Professor Katie Lunnon

About me:

Katie is Professor of Dementia Genomics at the University of Exeter Medical School, with a particular interest in dementia. Katie graduated with a BSc Honours degree in Biochemistry & Pharmacology (1st Class) from the University of Southampton in 2004. It was during this Batchelor's degree that Katie became fascinated by dementia, which naturally led on to her PhD studies in the CNS Inflammation Group at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Professor Hugh Perry. During her PhD she investigated the effect that systemic inflammation has on the brain, particularly in dementia.

In 2008 Katie started a post-doctoral research position in the Department of Old Age Psychiatry in King's College London. In this role she identified peripheral changes that occur in the blood of people with Alzheimer's disease. Subsequently in 2011 Katie moved to the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre also within King's College London to work in the Psychiatric Epigenetics Group. Here she combined techniques she had previously acquired, with cutting-edge methylomics technology to investigate the role of DNA methylation in late-onset Alzheimer's disease aetiology. This work represented the first high-throughput, genome-wide, cross-tissue methylomic study in Alzheimer's disease.

Katie was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, in June 2013, became a Senior Lecturer in September 2015, an Associate Professor in April 2017 and Professor in July 2019. Here the focus of her research surrounds investigating genomic mechanisms in dementia.

Broad research specialisms

• The role of epigenetics (DNA methylation) in dementia
• Biomarkers for early dementia
• Mitochondrial dysfunction in dementia
• Neuroinflammation in dementia

Interests:

Katie’s key research interests focus on the role of epigenetics in dementia. The scope of her research ranges from identifying new epigenetic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, to identifying novel epigenetic marks in Alzheimer’s brain

Qualifications:

• BSc Biochemistry & Pharmacology (1st Class Hons) (2004, Southampton)
• PhD Neuroscience (2008, Southampton)
• PGCAP (2010, King’s College London)