Research Team Members
Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, PhD
Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, PhD, is a geneticist with both statistical and molecular biology experience. Dr. Sargurupremraj is an active member of several large-scale consortiums and lead multiple projects generating primary genetic association evidence for complex neurological, neurodegenerative diseases and their various endophenotypes (white matter hyperintensities, brain infarcts, memory performance, etc.). His specific interest is studying the vascular contribution to Alzheimer’s disease – a common form of dementia that often co-exists with cerebrovascular disease. He is involved in the systematic exploration for biological pleiotropy and causal inference using instrumental variable methods with a specific focus on gene prioritization strategies for augmenting the performance of disease-risk prediction that is based on common genetic variants. Dr. Sargurupremraj is also experienced in the application of multi-omics data to infer cell/tissue type specificity in cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) both at the bulk and single-cell resolution. His renewed interest is in studying gene-environment interaction by involving epigenetic information and a specific class of genetic elements that transpose in the genome using robust statistical methods particularly in relation to the magnetic resonance imaging markers for cSVD and atrophy.
Research Areas
Population Neuroscience
Contact:
Research Profile
Claudia Satizabal, PhD
Interests are centered on the lifestyle and genetic determinants influencing abnormal brain aging (cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative neuroimaging markers), stroke, cognitive decline and dementia. Ongoing research is focused on the impact of midlife obesity on the risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease and related endophenotypes, the association between fatty acids and the risk of stroke and understanding the relationship between mitochondrial DNA features and age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease. Actively involved in the Neurology and Cognitive working groups of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, leading projects investigating the genetic determinants of subcortical brain structures fine motor speed and visual memory. Other collaborations, include the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed), the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) and the Markers for Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (MarkVCID).
Research Areas
Population Neuroscience
Contact:
satizabal@uthscsa.edu
Research Profile
Sudha Seshadri, MD
Dr. Seshadri is a senior investigator of the Framingham Heart Study since 1998, leading the study’s clinical neurology and neurogenesis cores since 2005. She is the principal investigator on 8 NIH funded grants and is an investigator, subcontract principal investigator and consultant to 12 additional grants.
She has served on the Editorial Board for Neurology and Stroke, chaired a standing NIH Study Section (Neurology, Aging and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology) and has over 320 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 79, i10 index 209), including 57 in 2016.
Dr. Seshadri helped to establish the neurology phenotype working group within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium.
She lectures extensively, nationally and internationally, on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and the genetics of stroke and vascular brain injury.
Research Areas
Biological & Innovative Research, Clinical Research
Contact:
Research Profile
