What I Did

  • Analyzed human brain tissue samples, including diverse neurodegenerative cases (Alzheimer’s and Dementia) and neuropsychiatric conditions (OCD and eating disorders), utilizing advanced RNA extraction and microarray techniques for comprehensive genetic profiling.

  • Spearheaded statistical analyses using Generalized Linear Models, LASSO, and Fisher’s Exact Test to uncover gene contributions to disease status.

  • Identified overlapping genetic pathways and gene interactions using the STRING database to explore disease connections.

  • Engineered data models in MATLAB, leveraging supervised and unsupervised learning techniques for comprehensive pathway discovery.

  • Validated findings through gene ontology and pathway analysis, revealing potential disease interactions with significant p-values

  • Pre-existing research on the relationship between these two diseases is insufficient, so investigating a genetic linkage is critical, both for clinical and comprehensive purposes in order to effectively improve diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of these disorders. MATLAB was utilized to perform various statistical measures, with the overarching null hypothesis being that there is no relationship between neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. The alternate hypothesis claimed that there is some relationship between these two diseases. Using statistical methods such as Generalized Linear Models, Benjamini-Hochberg Correction, LASSO, Fisher’s Exact Test, and Principal Component Regression, multiple metrics that contributed contribute to a positive disease status were identified.

Discussion

Analysis ultimately revealed that there was no direct genetic overlap between the two types of diseases, however, there are similar pathways and potential interactions between significantly contributing genes in both neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. These findings were associated with p-values less than our threshold of 0.05, so overall the null hypothesis was rejected, on the basis that with further and intensive investigation, a more concrete correlation will prevail.