Climate change is a global problem that is drastically changing our planet. Increased precipitation in Northern Europe has caused major crop losses, in part due to the oxygen deprivation experienced by the waterlogged roots. In mammals, epigenetic mechanisms (histone demethylation) have recently been identified that play a major role in the response to low oxygen levels (hypoxia), and response to infection. There are striking similarities between the mammalian and plant responses to hypoxia and infection. My preliminary analyses suggest that the epigenetic mechanisms that control these responses in mammals may be conserved in plants. EpiStress aims to determine if major changes to the epigenetic landscape underlie (i) gene expression changes in response to hypoxia and/or immune response in plants; (ii) the trade-off between the hypoxia and immune programs. These aims will be achieved through three objectives; (i) determining if histone demethylases are novel players in the regulation of hypoxia response in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana; (ii) testing if histone methylation or acetylation changes underlie the trade-off between hypoxia response and immunity; (iii) describing the epigenetic changes that occur in response to hypoxia in barley (Hordeum vulgare) and if these changes can explain corresponding gene expression changes. Fundamental mechanisms will first be established at Maynooth University, Ireland under the supervision of Dr. Emmanuelle Graciet. The potential for crop adaptation to climate change will be explored during a secondment at the state agency Teagasc, Ireland under the supervision of Dr. Ewen Mullins, using barley, Ireland’s most widely grown tillage crop. A combination of genetics, hypoxia and pathogen treatments, chromatin immunoprecipitation with next generation sequencing (ChIP-seq), RNA-seq and bioinformatics will be used throughout this project to identify a major new pathway of hypoxia and infection response in plants.

HD is a monogentic disease, meaning modification in a single gene occurring in all cells of the body. In Western countries it is estimated that 5-7 people per 100,000 are affected by HD. Currently there is no cure for the disease and effective management is key to quality of life for those who are affected. Patients and families who are living with the disease face multiple social and self-management issues. For example, stigma of the disease alongside social isolation have been key drivers in terms of high levels of mental health difficulties. CH has the ability to assist with many of the difficulties faced by HD, RD and indeed other symptom related diseases. For example, CH can monitor and identify key intervention points along the disease progression pathway, it can inform and facilitate integrated care, it can assist with joining key stakeholders together in a shared ecosystem, and importantly it can assist patients and their families in terms of reducing isolation, optimising self-management and thus increasing empowerment and self-actualisation. Further, CH has the ability to optimise scarce resources in an over stretched health care system and thus produce effective and efficient outcomes. The primary aim of this RISE project is to establish an international and inter-sectoral network of organisations working in collaboration on a research project which seeks to design a technology enabled patient centred care pathway which will identify how to optimise Connected Health (CH) interventions at key points along Huntington’s Disease (HD) trajectory. This is an important project because patient centred care from a CH perspective in the area of HD is currently under developed. This project aims to develop a new pathway of patient care based upon a better understanding of what type of technology can assist patients with improving their quality of life at various key points along the care pathway.