Melissa Barber

UK Dementia Research Institute

Previously: UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Melissa Barber is interested in understanding how genetic and environmental risk factors contribute to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and in identifying interventions that may confer protection from the earliest stages of life. Does the in-utero environment and development of the brain alter AD risk in later life? How do these pathways converge on neuroinflammation and microglial-vascular cross in modulating AD-risk? She is currently Investigating how novel genetic RELN-DAB1/DAB2 pathways interact with APOE4 to modify neuroinflammation and AD risk using iPSC derived microglial and interneuron culture models, as potential novel therapeutic targets. This work is funded by the Alzheimer’s Society in Dr Dervis Salih & John Hardy's lab at UCL. In addition, she is investigating how RELN and APOE contribute to vascular and BBB dysfunction in AD in a Reln-deficient amyloid mouse model in collaboration with Dr Sideris-Lampretsas, mediated through microglial-vascular cross talk through a UCL UK DRI Pilot Award.