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  • Wray/Visscher Group

    Group Leaders

    Professor Peter Visscher

    ARC Laureate Fellow - GL
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    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 Genomics
    Joint Appointment
    Queensland Brain Institute
    Professorial Research Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    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 Baptiste Couvy-Duchesne

    Research Fellow - CJ Martin Fellowship
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Dr Fleur Garton

    NHMRC Early Career Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    Fleur Garton is a researcher focused on improving outcomes for those with a neurological disease. She completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons I) in 2008 at the University of Sydney. Pursing an interest in the molecular basis of skeletal muscle function she completed her honours and PhD at the Institute of Neuroscience and Muscle research at the Children's Hospital Westmead. Fleur spent two-years as post-doctoral researcher at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne. She was responsible for modelling the effect of gene dosage using rAAV vectors while helping to contribute to studies on human performance and health. In 2016, Fleur moved to work with Professor Naomi Wray at the Program in Complex Trait Genomics team at the University of Queensland. She was awarded a Bill Gole MND Postdoctoral fellowship from MNDRA in 2016, an NHMRC Early Career Researcher Fellowship (2017-2022) and is now the Scott Sullivan MND Research Fellow (2022). Her research program aims to further understand the genetic mechanisms of motor neurone disease (MND/ALS) using novel genomics analyses. This includes investigations into the use of cell-free DNA and other 'omic data to improve diagnosis and treatment. Fleur currently has research projects running at the Royal Brisbane Womens Hospital and the Mater Hospital together with local and international collaborators. Any potential participants or collaborators are encouraged to contact her on email about these projects.

    Ms Anjali Henders

    Human Studies Manager
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    As part of the management executive of the Program in Complex Traits Genomics (PCTG) based at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences (IMB) Anjali is responsible for the day-to-day running of the PCTG, including the coordination of their research activities and strategies, research governance and supervison of their high-through put genomics laboratory. Anjali has over 15 years experience in managing complex, large-scale research programmes and specialises in facilitating and managing interdisciplinary collaborations and consortiums.

    Prior to moving to UQ, Anjali was the Senior Project Manager for the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory at the Queensland Institute for Medical research (QIMR) where she held an integral role in the management of large human research projects collecting biological samples for down stream genomics. Her significant contribution to these projects has been recognised by her inclusion in publications and commentaries.

    Dr Valentin Hivert

    Research Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    Valentin was awarded a PhD from the French National Institute of Higher Education in Agricultural Sciences and the University of Montpellier (France) in 2018. His thesis focused on methodological developments for genetic differentiation analysis in the Next Generation Sequencing era in a neutral and adaptive context. Since 2019, he works as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Queensland in the Program in Complex Trait Genomics group under the supervision of Professor Peter Visscher. His current research focuses on studying the within and between-population genetic variation in human complex traits.

    Dr Kathryn Kemper

    Research Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    Dr Kemper is a postdoctoral fellow in statistical genetics. She joined UQ in 2016 after obtaining a PhD and postdoctoral experience at the University of Melbourne (2006-2016). Her expertise and research interests span a range of topics in quantitative genetics, including genomic prediction, modelling the epidemiological consequences of genetic change in disease and population genetics. Current research areas include:

    • genetic analysis of longitudinal traits
    • estimation of non-additive genetic effects
    • genomic prediction in admixed populations

    Mrs Leanne Wallace

    Project and Laboratory Coordinator
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Dr Yang Wu

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Dr Jian Zeng

    NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    Dr Jian Zeng is a statistical geneticist and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at the University of Queensland (UQ). He received his PhD in animal breeding and genetics at Iowa State University and joined the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG) at UQ in 2016. His research focuses on the development and application of innovative statistical methods for estimating the genetic architecture and evolutionary signals in complex traits, identifying genetic variants, genes and other molecular intermediates associated with phenotype variation, and predicting trait phenotypes using genome sequence data. In 2019, he was awarded an NHMRC Investigator Emerging Leadership Grant to develop statistical methods and software tools for best predict an individual's disease risk using genomic and omics data. He was an invited speaker at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference in 2019.

    Students

    Mr Longda Jiang

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Restu Restuadi

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Pierrick Wainschtein

    Adjunct Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Ms Ying Wang

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Miss Shiane Groot

    PhD student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Admin Support Staff

    Ms Deborah Gilroy

    Research Project Coordinator
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Mrs Madhura Bhadravathi Lokeshappa

    Systems Developer
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Research Support Staff

    Miss Gemyka English

    Research Assistant
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Dr Tian Lin

    Principal Research Scientist/Scientific Officer
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Ms Lorelle Nunn

    Project Support Assistant
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Miss Laura Ziser

    Research Data Analyst/Administrator
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Angli Xue

    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Lachlan Sparke

    Research Assistant
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 
    Tags: 
    Wray/Visscher Group
  • Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
  • Research Officer
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
  • Senior Research Fellow - GL
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
  • Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
  • Visiting Scholar
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience

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