Project context and summary:
The project aims (i) to identify the genetic and GxE determinants driving variation in gene expression and chromatin accessibility in African ancestry individuals, and (ii) to characterize the transcriptomic & epigentic variation of immune cells in populations of African descnt in respone to immune stimulation (using LPS as a proxy for bacterial infection), comparing across urban and rural settings, and differnt sex and age groups.
To do so, the project will build on a subset of 400 donors from 8 populations, to which we are contributiong one specific population (48 central Africans, recruited in Belgium). Epigenetic (snATAC-seq) & transcriptomic (snRNA-seq) landscape of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from these donors will be characterized after 6h of stimulation with LPS and contrasted with profules of unstimulated cells (Null).
