Dr Anna Migdalska-Richards

About me:

I graduated with a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Warsaw, before carrying out an MSc project aimed at studying the molecular basis of male intellectual disability at the National Research Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw. As part of my master’s degree Ispent a year abroad, first as a Socrates-Erasmus scholar at Manchester University, then at the University of Verona on a scholarship from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally as a FEBS scholar at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo. Subsequently, I did my PhD in Developmental Biology at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute at Cambridge University, investigating Monosomy 21 and Sotos Syndrome mouse models, with the aim of unravelling the pathophysiology of these human genomic disorders. Next, I joined the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at UCL as a postdoctoral research associate, leading two research projects, the first designed to determine the role of glucocerebrosidase 1 (Gba1) mutations in the development of Parkinson’s disease, and the second aimed at investigating the potential of the molecular chaperone ambroxol as a putative drug for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. I joined the Complex Disease Epigenetics Group in February 2018 to work on the MRC project investigating regulatory genomic variation associated with schizophrenia in human neuronal nuclei. Recently, Anna was appointed as a Lecturer in the University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health. In her current research, Anna combines genetic and epigenetic approaches, with the aim of identifying novel pathways involved in Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis, new putative drug targets and lab-based diagnostic biomarkers.

I am interested in examining regulatory genomic variation changes in a whole range of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, dementias and Huntington’s, and neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis and ADHD. I am interested in pursuing a multidisciplinary approach that combines experiments, bioinformatics, mathematical modelling and public engagement, focusing on better diagnostics and novel treatments for these deliberating conditions.

PhD in Molecular and Developmental Biology (University of Cambridge, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute)

MSc (Hons) in Biotechnology specialising in Molecular Biology (University of Warsaw, Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology)

BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology specialising in Molecular Biology (University of Warsaw, Department of Genetics)

Lecturer (Complex Disease Epigenetics Group, University of Exeter) - Epigenetics of human brain disorders

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Complex Disease Epigenetics Group, University of Exeter) - Mapping regulatory genomic variation in schizophrenia

Postdoctoral Research Associate (Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University College London) - Relationship between glucocerebrosidase 1 (GBA1) mutations and Parkinson’s disease

Postdoctoral Research Associate (Mouse Genetics Group, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) - Analysis of mouse model carrying deletion syntenic to the human region 5q35.2-35.3

Summer Fellowship of Federation of Biochemical Societies (FEBS) (Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy)

Scholar of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affair (Biology and Genetics Section, Department of Mother and Child, Biology and Genetics, University of Verona, Italy)

Scholar of Socrates-Erasmus (School of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, UK)