Leonard Steg

Leo is a placement student at the Epigenomics group. With the internship, he is completing his Master’s degree in Fundamental Neuroscience at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. He grew up in Erlangen, Germany, and went to Innsbruck, Austria, for his undergraduate in Molecular Medicine. In Innsbruck, he discovered his passion for Neuroscience, while working on a CRISPR-Cas9 construct to knock-down transcripts involved in memory formation. Within his time in Maastricht he worked on DNA methylation data to investigate possible biomarker for the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Here in Exeter he will explore the epigenetic changes during differentiation and ageing of IPSC-derived neurons under the supervision of Katie Lunnon. By using different compounds to induce ageing, he wants to develop a human neuronal model for ageing-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases.