Astrocytes play an important role in brain homeostasis, and alterations in the water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) and cholesterol metabolism have both been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this project, we aim to investigate whether AQP4 expression is associated with cholesterol-related transcriptional changes in astrocytes from AD patients. Publicly available human single-nucleus RNA-sequencing datasets from prefrontal cortex will be analyzed, comparing AD and control samples and evaluating the relationship between AQP4 expression and genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and homeostasis. A second independent cortical dataset will be used to assess whether the main findings can be reproduced. The project will involve analysis of snRNA-seq data using R/Seurat, including cell-type identification, differential gene expression, gene-set scoring and data visualization. The project can be adapted according to the student’s interests and provides an opportunity to work with human transcriptomic data while contributing to research on astrocyte dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease.
Contact: ana_isabel.alvarez_lopez@med.lu.se