This seminar is a hybrid in-person and online event. You can choose to order an in-person ticket or a virtual attendance ticket when registering to attend.
For those attending in person, refreshments will be served immediately after this seminar in RSM 3.24 (Staff Common Room).
Imperial College London’s Departments of Bioengineering and Brain Sciences host this event.
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Seminar title:
High-throughput ‘Omics to Advance Equity in Alzheimer’s Disease
Abstract:
Alzheimer’s disease overburdens minoritised populations such as African American/Black adults in the United States. Disparities in disease prevalence and basic science and clinical research participation prevent a complete understanding of the disease and insight necessary to advance disease diagnosis and treatments. Proteomics and lipidomics approaches can help understand biological pathways that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease in diverse populations.
This presentation will share examples of research in RASR Lab that focuses on multiplexing proteomics approaches to understand disparities in Alzheimer’s using plasma and post-mortem brain tissues.
Speaker Biography:
Renã A. S. Robinson is a Professor of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University and the inaugural Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow. Dr Robinson received her B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Business from the University of Louisville in 2000 and her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Indiana University under the mentorship of Professor David Clemmer. During her graduate studies, she developed proteomics methods to study ageing in Drosophila (fruit flies). She continued her work in ageing as a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor D. Allan Butterfield in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky. During this fellowship, she began to focus on neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease and received a UNCF/Merck Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Dr Robinson joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh as an Assistant Professor in 2009 until her recent move to Vanderbilt in the summer of 2017. Dr Robinson has a nationally and internationally recognized research program and is an emerging leader in proteomics for her work in ageing, Alzheimer’s disease and applications relevant to human health. Recently Chemical and Engineering News awarded her with the 2016 Talented Twelve Award, distinguishing her as one of the world’s brightest young minds in the field of chemistry. She is also the recipient of several awards, including a Starter Grant Award from the Society for Analytical Chemistry of Pittsburgh, the 2014 Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award from NOBCChE (The National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers), and most recently, the 2017 Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award.
She is one of the newest faculty members of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center. Her passion for helping those affected by Alzheimer’s disease and understanding health disparities is manifested in her former role as Associate Director of the Outreach, Recruitment and Education Core of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Center in 2017. She is also a Co-Investigator on a $2.6M grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health to colleague Jennifer Lingler at the University of Pittsburgh to develop innovative recruitment strategies to increase African American participation in Alzheimer’s and related diseases research. Dr Robinson and her research team actively engage in Alzheimer’s disease outreach and awareness activities.
Dr Robinson actively mentors graduate and undergraduate students and trains them with the skills necessary to be effective scientists in academia, industry, government, or other sectors. In addition, she engages high school students in research experiences in her laboratory. During the academic year, Dr Robinson teaches courses for both undergraduate chemistry majors and graduate students in analytical chemistry. She serves as an Executive Board Member for NOBCChE and is involved in many outreach activities to increase diversity and inclusion in chemistry and academia. She is an active member of the Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. She is on the newly formed Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and a member of other analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry organisations.