Adrenal and circulating small non-coding RNAs in the regulation of the neuroendocrine stress response

Principal Investigators

Prof. Dr. Alon Chen

alon_chen[at]psych.mpg.de

Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics
Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry
Munich

Dr. med. Anna Riester (nee. Hill)

anna.riester[at]med.uni-muenchen.de

Resident, PostDoc
Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV
Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich

Aims

(I) Establish small ncRNA profiles, using small ncRNA sequencing, in adrenals and blood samples obtained from ACTH-independent and ACTH-dependent Cushing’s patients and healthy controls.

(II) Investigate polyamines in Cushing’s syndrome and their regulation by small ncRNAs.

(III) Confirm the predicted ‘microRNA-Target’ interactions in vitro.

(IV) Develop a mouse model to test the causal effects of alterations of specific small ncRNA expression levels on behaviour, physiology and gene expression.