We’ve been having a bit of fun the last few months with some big, BIG datasets. I wasn’t quite ready to fully commit to RNA-seq, but we do need to start expanding our gene expression repertoire to include larger panels. Enter the Nanostring Neuroinflammation panel.  This new technique has given us the potential to profile up to 800 genes within a targeted panel of genes associated with neuroinflammation. In both epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, we know that there is significant activation of microglia and upregulation of inflammatory cytokines. Our lab hasn’t expanded beyond some of the well-defined markers of these events, so we are exploring this new procedure in the hopes that we may uncover some molecular contributors to disease, as well as better understanding how seizures additively influence disease progression in our Alzheimer’s disease associated mouse models.

It’s been a bit of an adventure in bioinformatics and BIG data. We’ve got a lot of work to do to now to better understand what this all means, but it’s certainly fun to see some clear interactions as a result of seizures in the AD-associated brain.