Department of Informatics Big Data in South Africa

Dr Solon P. Pissis (Algorithms and Bioinformatics group) of the Department of Informatics received a grant from the London Mathematical Society that provides support for research to be held in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Dr Pissis will collaborate with scientists from the University of  Stellenbosch on extracting repetitive structures in DNA sequences. The appearance of such structures has been linked to a number of different diseases. One such disease is Huntington's disease (HD), a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline and psychiatric problems. A very recent study, published in March 2013, has actually shown that South Africa is in great need to identify population-specific therapies for HD, as the data presented show novel and distinct DNA sequences associated with HD in the different subpopulations in South Africa.

Contact Dr Solon P. Pissis (solon.pissis@kcl.ac.uk) for further details.