Meet the ADAPTED Researchers - Maria Eugenia Sáez, CAEBi
What is your role within the ADAPTED Project?
I am the leader of the ADAPTED Bioinformatics team. Our work is aimed at collecting, harmonising and mining data generated through the ADAPTED project with data already available in public repositories or generated by collaborating consortia.
Tell us a bit more about the company you work with, CAEBi?
CAEBi is a private independent research centre established in Seville in 2012, specialising in performing studies in which large databases (genetic, clinical or both) are analysed using bioinformatics tools.
We specialise in:
Analysis of genetic data: GWAS (Genome Wide Association Studies), NGS (Next Generation Sequencing), candidate gene approaches, pharmacogenomics, expression analysis (mRNA, protein).
Epidemiological and pharmacoepidemiological studies.
R&D Project Management.
Training in statistical techniques.
Creation and management of electronic case report forms (eCRFs)
What have been some of the biggest achievements/breakthroughs so far in the project?
Our major achievement so far has been the implementation of a data storage and analysis platform which currently has information for more than 70000 human samples from diverse omics, and pipelines for analysing and combining multi-omic data.
What excites you most about the ADAPTED project?
The focus of the project on APOE biology, the major risk factor for AD today whose pathogenic mechanism has not been unravelled yet.
What are your expectations the project?
Through an innovative APOE stratified approach and the use of up-to-date technologies such as iPSC generation, ADAPTED will bring novel information about the role of APOE in AD.
What are your hopes for the future treatment of Alzheimer’s disease?
The advent of new technologies is generating a huge amount of data about cells and organisms and different levels (genetic sequence, expression profiles at the mRNA and protein levels, post-translational modifications, etc). This information is providing a comprehensive overview of the cell biology like never before, which surely will result in novel therapeutic targets for AD in the near future.
What do you think EU collaborative research projects have to offer?
The life science complexity can only be adequately explored through synergistic interactions of particular expertise on diverse biological and clinical aspects. EU collaborative projects offer the appropriate frame work for such interactions between European researchers.
