Get the latest research to your inbox
Wray/Visscher Group
Group Leaders
Professor Peter Visscher
UQ Laureate Fellow and Group LeaderInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Researcher biography:Visscher joined the University of Queensland in 2011, where he is Professor of Quantitative Genetics. He is a Laureate Fellow of the Australian Research Council. Visscher was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010, a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) in 2018 and a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.
Visscher's research is about genetic variation for complex traits (including quantitative traits and disease) in populations, with the broad aim to understand and quantify the causes and consequences of human trait variation.
Prof Peter Visscher, Prof Naomi Wray and Prof Jian Yang together comprise the Executive Team of the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG). PCTG comprises a critical mass of more than 30 post-doctoral researchers plus research assistants and students, all supported by external grant funding. Their skills lie in the ability to develop and apply statistical methods within the framework of quantitative, population and statistical genetics and to use theory to understand and predict results from data analyses. They play leading roles in the international research consortia. The focus of current research activities is in the detection and fine-mapping of loci underlying complex traits (including common disease), based upon theoretical studies and applications of methods to large datasets, in population genetics studies using theoretical approaches and high-density genetic marker data, and in systems genomics studies.
Professor Naomi Wray
Director, Centre for Population and Disease GenomicsJoint AppointmentQueensland Brain InstituteProfessorial Research FellowInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Researcher biography:Naomi Wray is the Michael Davys Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford. She holds an appointment at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) within the University of Queensland. She joined UQ Queensland Brain Institute in 2011 moving to the IMB in 2015. She was Head of the Centre for Population & Disease Genomics within IMB 2018-2023. Her Oxford appointment started in 2023.
Her research focuses on development and application of quantitative genetics and genomics methodologies across complex diseases, disorders and traits, but particularly psychiatric-related traits.
She is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Leadership Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science. In 2020 she was awarded the NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Award for Leadership in Basic Science and the 2021 International Society of Psychiatric Genetics Ming Tsuang Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a Clarivate Highly Cited researcher.
She was Director of the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG) funded as an NHMRC Program Grant 2017-2022. She plays a key role in the International Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and established the sporadic ALS Australia systems genomics consortium (SALSA) funded by the MND Research Australia IceBucket Challenge and FightMND. She is a co-investigator on the Australian Genetics of Depression Study (AGDS) and is currently launching the AGDS-Cello project focussed on establishing a cell line resource from participants with a detailed history of anti-depressant use and response measures. She is part of an NHMRC Synergy (2023-2027) "Rhythms and blues: Personalising care for body clock dysfunction in mood disorders".
She is secretary of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, and is on the editorial advisory boards of JAMA Psychiatry, Neuron, Royal Society Open and Research Directions: Depression.
Researchers
Dr Yang Wu
Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Students
Dr Alesha Hatton
Postdoctoral Research FellowInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Researcher biography:Alesha Hatton is a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in statistical genetics and genetic epidemiology at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland. Currently, her research focuses on understanding the genetic and environmental aetiology underlying complex traits through use of Mendelian randomization and statistical genetics methodologies. Her PhD was in systems genomics, applying quantitative genetics methods to investigate the role of DNA methylation in complex trait variation. Alesha has a bachelor's degree in medical mathematics from the University of Wollongong (2016) and previously was employed as a statistician at the South Australian health and Medical Research Institute.
Mr Longda Jiang
Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:0Supervisor:Mr Restu Restuadi
Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Mr Pierrick Wainschtein
Adjunct FellowInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:0Supervisor:Ms Ying Wang
Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:0Supervisor:Miss Shiane Groot
PhD studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Admin Support Staff
Research Support Staff
Mr Angli Xue
Institute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Tags:Wray/Visscher Group- Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular Bioscience
- 14 Apr 2025Join us for an inspiring panel discussion on gender equality, followed by an afternoon tea fundraiser supporting the not-for-profit, Dressed for Success. Together, let’s #AccelerateAction for a more inclusive and equitable world. #IMB25
- Honorary Professor & Professorial Research FellowInstitute for Molecular Bioscience
- Honorary ProfessorInstitute for Molecular Bioscience
Koopman Group
Group Leader
Emeritus Professor Peter Koopman
Emeritus ProfessorInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:0Supervisor:Body:Highlights
Professor Koopman earned his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1986 for research on stem cell differentiation. He moved to London soon afterwards for a postdoctoral appointment in the Mammalian Development Unit at the Medical Research Council, where he conducted medical analyses of mouse embryo development. During a second postdoc, with the National Institute for Medical Research, he was part of the team who isolated the mouse Y-chromosome gene (now known as SRY) and demonstrated its role in sex determination by reversing the sex of XX-chromosome mice. The discovery is widely regarded as one of the major achievements in molecular genetics of the 20th century.
In 1992 he took a role at The University of Queensland, and now heads a research team whose work focuses on genes that regulate embryonic development, with special emphasis on the molecular genetics of sex development, fertility, gonadal cancers and intersex conditions. He’s also extensively involved in research training, having co-founded the Australian Developmental Biology Workshop in 2001. The workshop is a training-ground for the next generation of developmental biologists in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Between 2007 and 2012 he was a Federation Fellow of the ARC, and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Connect
Researchers
Students
Mr Christian Larney
Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:Ms Clarissa Rios Rojas
Higher degree by research (PhD) studentInstitute for Molecular BioscienceResearcher profile is public:1Supervisor:- LaunchJoin us for an unforgettable night of dinner, fashion, and conversations inspired by research at IMB
Pages
Strawberry DNA extraction activity
Extract and view DNA from a strawberry using common household ingredients.
Get started
The Edge: Genetics
People have known for thousands of years that parents pass traits to their children, but it is only relatively recently that our technology has caught up to our curiosity, enabling us to delve into the mystery of how this inheritance occurs, and the implications for predicting, preventing and treating disease.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get the latest research straight to your inbox.
Stay up-to-date as we answer questions about hot topics, and share the latest news at IMB, Australia’s #1 research institute.
General enquiries
+61 7 3346 2222
imb@imb.uq.edu.au
Media enquiries
IMB fully supports UQ's Reconciliation Action Plan and is implementing actions within our institute.
Support us
Donate to research
100% of donations go to the cause