Patryk Wasniewski

Research Topic: AI-driven approach for understanding and quantification of Alzheimer Disease from CryoET data

Supervisors: Dr Sharib Ali, Dr René Frank, Mr Ryan Matthews

About Patryk: I previously studied an integrated master’s degree in neuroscience at the University of Leeds, during which time my undergraduate and master’s focus was on Parkinson’s Disease, which involved looking into the role of α-synuclein (the protein most strongly linked to Parkinson’s Disease pathophysiology) in changes of neuronal communication in cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons. My interest in artificial intelligence (AI) culminated from a long-standing interest in computer science and the continual advancements in AI technology, which I am excited to apply to healthcare, with a particular interest in diagnostic medicine and brain-related diseases.

Project Description: Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder primarily linked to ageing, presenting with a plethora of symptoms, such as memory loss, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and personality changes. There are currently an estimated 982,000 individuals with dementia in the UK (2024), with numbers projected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040 (NHS) – of which a majority of cases are Alzheimer’s Disease (60-80%) (CDC). Because of this, a robust and quantitative diagnostic tool is desired. The initial stage of the project involves the segmentation of CryoET tomograms, segmenting organelles and Alzheimer’s Disease pathology, obtained from postmortem and living donor samples. Segmentation of amyloids linked to neurodegenerative disorders on tomograms is currently the most labour intensive and time-consuming step in the pipeline of tomogram analysis and so this research could benefit the biomedical sciences community in automating and accelerating biomedical research.