Genetic Associations with Alzheimer's, Lewy Body and Vascular Neuropathology Reveal Shared and Distinct Biological Pathways
Kevin Morgan, Alan J. Thomas, Keeley J. Brookes
medRxiv · Sep 22, 2026 · PreprintGenetic & Genomic Medicine
Author
Alan J. Thomas
Newcastle UniversityORCID 0000-0002-6667-9533Unclaimed ORCID profile · follow to get notified of new preprints
Biology Disciplines
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2018-2026 · peak 3/yrCo-Author Collaboration Network
10 top collaborators · 22 mutual co-author linksFocal author (center)Selected co-authorORCID co-authorUnlinked name
Curved chords = mutual co-authorship13 papers
Recent·Most cited
Connectome-based brain fingerprints predict early cognitive decline in Parkinson's patients with minor hallucinations
Sara Stampacchia, Fosco Bernasconi, Dimitri Van De Ville, Enrico Amico, Lada Kohoutová, John‐Paul Taylor, Alan J. Thomas, Javier Pagonabarraga, Jaime Kulisevsky, Olaf Blanke
The paper uses connectome-based brain fingerprinting to identify early cognitive decline markers in Parkinson's patients with minor hallucinations using resting-state fMRI.
Nature Mental Health · Jun 8, 2026Peer-reviewedNeuroscience
Dopaminergic Changes in the Subgenual Cingulate Cortex in Dementia with Lewy Bodies Associates with Presence of Depression
Lina Gliaudelytė, Steven Rushton, Rolando Berlinguer Palmini, Alan J. Thomas, Christopher M. Morris
The paper investigates dopaminergic and serotonergic changes in the subgenual cingulate cortex of dementia with Lewy bodies patients with and without depression, finding reduced dopaminergic innervation and markers in depressed cases.
Translational Psychiatry · Mar 20, 2025Peer-reviewedNeuroscience
Post-mortem AT-8 reactive tau species correlate with non-plaque Aβ levels in the frontal cortex of non-AD and AD brains
Nauman Malik, Mohi-Uddin Miah, Alessandro Galgani, Kirsty E. McAleese, Lauren Walker, Fiona E. N. LeBeau, Johannes Attems, Tiago F. Outeiro, Alan J. Thomas, David J. Koss
This study shows that intracellular Aβ correlates with AT-8 phosphorylated tau in frontal cortex tissue from non-AD and AD brains, supporting the revised amyloid cascade hypothesis.
bioRxiv · Sep 27, 2023 · PreprintNeuroscience
iPSC-Astrocyte morphology reflects patient clinical markers
Helen A. Rowland, Georgina Miller, Qiang Liu, Nicola R Sharp, Bryan Ng, Liting Wei, Kanisa Arunasalam, Ivan G. Koychev, Anne Hedegaard, Elena M. Ribé, Dennis Chan, Tharani Chessell, Ece Kocagöncü, Jennifer Lawson, Paresh Malhotra, , Noel J. Buckley
This study shows iPSC-derived astrocytes from AD patients reflect key pathophysiological features, offering a new model for AD research and therapeutic screening.
bioRxiv · Jul 15, 2023 · PreprintNeuroscience
Neurons from individual early Alzheimer's disease patients reflect clinical vulnerability
Bryan Ng, Helen A Rowland, Liting Wei, Kanisa Arunasalam, Emma Mee Hayes, Ivan G. Koychev, Anne Hedegaard, Elena M. Ribé, Dennis Chan, Tharani Chessell, Dominic H Ffytche, Roger N. Gunn, Ece Kocagöncü, Jennifer Lawson, Paresh Malhotra, , Richard Wade‐Martins
The paper uses induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical neurons from early Alzheimer's patients to show that cellular vulnerability to amyloid-beta correlates with clinical vulnerability.
Brain Communications · Oct 20, 2022Peer-reviewedNeuroscience
DNA methylation signatures of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology in the cortex are primarily driven by variation in non-neuronal cell-types
Gemma L. Shireby, Emma Louise Dempster, Stefania S S Policicchio, Rebecca G. Smith, Ehsan Pishva, Barry A. Chioza, Jonathan P. Davies, Joe Burrage, Katie Lunnon, Dorothea Seiler Vellame, Seth Love, Alan J. Thomas, Keeley J. Brookes, Kevin Morgan, Paul T. Francis, , Jonathan S. Mill
The paper identifies DNA methylation signatures in Alzheimer's disease cortex, showing most changes are driven by non-neuronal cell types.
Nature Communications · Sep 24, 2022Peer-reviewedGenetics
Genome-wide association study of autopsy-confirmed Multiple System Atrophy identifies common variants near ZIC1 and ZIC4
Franziska Hopfner, Anja K. Tietz, Viktoria Ruf, Owen A. Ross, Shunsuke Koga, Dennis W. Dickson, Adriano Aguzzi, Johannes Attems, Thomas Beach, Allison Beller, William P. Cheshire, Vivianna M. Van Deerlin, Paula Desplats, Günther Deuschl, Charles J. Duyckaerts, , Günter U. Höglinger
Movement Disorders · Aug 23, 2022Peer-reviewedGenetic & Genomic Medicine
A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies in Alzheimer's disease highlights novel differentially methylated loci across cortex
Rebecca G. Smith, Ehsan Pishva, Gemma L. Shireby, Adam R. Smith, Janou A. Y. Roubroeks, Eilis J. Hannon, Greg Wheildon, Diego Mastroeni, Gilles Gasparoni, Markus J. Riemenschneider, Armin Giese, Andrew J. Sharp, Leonard C. Schalkwyk, Vahram H. Haroutunian, Wolfgang Viechtbauer, , Katie Lunnon
This study performs a meta-analysis of DNA methylation data from Alzheimer's disease patients to identify differentially methylated loci across brain regions and cortex.
Nature Communications · Jun 10, 2021Peer-reviewedGenomics
Recalibrating the Epigenetic Clock: Implications for Assessing Biological Age in the Human Cortex
Gemma L. Shireby, Jonathan P. Davies, Paul T. Francis, Joe Burrage, Emma Walker, Grant W. A. Neilson, Aisha Dahir, Alan J. Thomas, Seth Love, Rebecca G. Smith, Katie Lunnon, Meena Kumari B, Leonard C. Schalkwyk, Kevin Morgan, Keeley J. Brookes, , Jonathan S. Mill
The paper develops a novel DNA methylation clock optimized for human cortex tissue, outperforming existing clocks and highlighting issues with previous associations between DNA methylation age and neurodegenerative phenotypes.
Brain · Sep 15, 2020Peer-reviewedGenomics
Dynamic functional connectivity changes in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease
Julia Schumacher, Luis R. Peraza, Michael Firbank, Alan J. Thomas, Marcus Kaiser, Peter Gallagher, John Tiernan O'Brien, Andrew Matthew Blamire, John‐Paul Taylor
This study examines dynamic functional connectivity in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease, finding reduced network efficiency variability in DLB but no significant clinical correlations.
NeuroImage Clinical · Jan 1, 2019Peer-reviewedNeuroscience
CXCR4 involvement in neurodegenerative diseases
Luke W. Bonham, Celeste M M. Karch, Chun Chieh Fan, Chin Hong Tan, Ethan G. Geier, Yunpeng Wang, Natalie Wen, Iris Broce, Yi Li, Matthew J. Barkovich, Raffaele Ferrari, John Hardy, Parastoo Momeni, Günter U. Höglinger, Ulrich Müller, , Murray Grossman
The paper identifies a genetic variant near CXCR4 associated with increased risk for PSP and PD, showing dysregulation of CXCR4 and microglia-related genes in neurodegenerative diseases.
Translational Psychiatry · Apr 11, 2018Peer-reviewedGenetics
Evidence of compensation in the brain networks of Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s disease patients
Luis R. Peraza, Ruth A. Cromarty, Xenia Kobeleva, Michael Firbank, Alison Killen, Sara Graziadio, Alan J. Thomas, John Tiernan O'Brien, John‐Paul Taylor
The paper compares brain network efficiency in Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and healthy controls using EEG data, finding reduced connectivity and compensatory responses in certain frequency bands.
Scientific Reports · Mar 9, 2018Peer-reviewedNeuroscience