IMB's latest news, explainers and more

 


Spider venom heart drug moves to clinical trials

Read more

Get the latest research to your inbox

Subscribe
 

  • Evans Group

    Group Leader

    Professor David Evans

    NHMRC Leadership Fellow - Group Leader
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    David Evans is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Statistical Genetics at the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He is a winner of the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Award.

    He completed his PhD in Statistical Genetics at the University of Queensland in 2003, before undertaking a four-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford where he worked as part of the The International HapMap Consortium and co-led the analysis of four diseases within the first Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. In 2007 he moved to take up a Senior Lecturer position at the University of Bristol where he led much of the genome-wide association studies work in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In 2013 he returned to take up a chair at the University of Queensland whilst continuing to lead an MRC Programme in statistical genetics at the University of Bristol.

    His research interests include the genetic mapping of complex traits and diseases (including birthweight and other perinatal traits, osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, sepsis, laterality) and the development of statistical methodologies in genetic epidemiology including approaches for gene mapping, individual risk prediction, causal modelling and dissecting the genetic architecture of complex traits. He has a particular interest in Mendelian randomization and has used it and other causal methods to investigate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)- the idea that adverse intrauterine exposures lead to increased risk of disease in later life.

    He is Academic Codirector at the NIH funded International Workshop on Statistical Genetics Methods and is faculty on the European Programme in Educational Epidemiology.

    He is Associate Editor at the International Journal of Epidemiology and Behavior Genetics journals.

    Researchers

    Dr Daniel Hwang

    ARC DECRA
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    Dr Daniel Liang-Dar Hwang is a genetic epidemiologist and statistical geneticist by training. His research interests include sensory nutrition, causal modelling, and personalized nutrition. Dr Hwang applies statistical models to big data to understand genetic and environmental factors contributing to individual differences in taste and olfactory perception and their relationship with dietary behaviour and chronic conditions (See his research on taste perception in The Conversation). He develops methods for increasing statistical power for gene discovery, estimating intergenerational causal relationships, and personalized intervention. He also works with clinicians to investigate impaired chemosensory perception in cancer patients and COVID-19.

    Daniel has a B.Sc from the National Taiwan University, majoring in Biochemical Science and Technology, and an M.Biotech from the University of Pennsylvania. Following graduation, he worked as a research technician in Danielle Reed's lab at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, where he first developed a keen interest in genetics and chemosensory perception. Later, he was awarded scholarships to complete an M.Sc in Nutrition at the University of Washington, under the supervision of Glen Duncan, and a PhD in Genetic Epidemiology at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, under the supervision of Nicholas Martin and Margaret Wright. He then joined David Evans's group as a postdoc at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute (now the Frazer Institute). Dr Hwang is an ARC DECRA Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience.

    Dr Hwang has published more than 40 peer-reviewed publications. His work has been referred to in international health policy guidelines and a WHO report for the intervention of childhood obesity and in a global patent for personalized wine selection. He is on the editorial boards of BMC Medicine and Twin Research and Human Genetics. Dr Hwang is a Leadership Team member of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, a global initiative to understand the relationship between smell loss and COVID-19 and foster the advancement of chemosensory science. He currently drives an international collaborative project to investigate the impact of COVID-19 vaccinations on long-COVID symptoms. Dr Hwang is a member of the National Committee for Nutrition of the Australian Academy of Science. He contributes to implementing the decadal plan for the science of nutrition in Australia.

    Dr Nicole Warrington

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

    Dr Nicole Warrington is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience. She has a strong background in statistical genetics and has been actively working towards understanding the genetic determinants of early life growth. Dr Warrington studied a Bachelor of Science at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, majoring in Mathematical Statistics and Psychology. She then completed an honours degree at The University of Western Australia, where she developed a keen interest for genetics, and was subsequently awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award to complete her PhD in statistical genetics and life-course epidemiology. During her PhD she spent time at the University of Toronto to gain experience in statistical modelling methods for longitudinal growth trajectories and conducted the first genome-wide association study of longitudinal growth trajectories over childhood. After completing her PhD, Dr Warrington started at the University of Queensland and focused on using genetics to inform about the relationship between birth weight and cardio-metabolic diseases in later life. She pioneered a new statistical method to partition genetic effects on birth weight into maternal and fetal components, and combined this method with a causal modelling approach, Mendelian randomization. This method was instrumental in demonstrating the relationship between birth weight and adult hypertension is driven by genetic effects, over-turning 30 years of research into the effects of intrauterine programming. More recently, her research focus has broadened to determine whether rapid weight growth across early life, including fetal development, childhood and adolescence, causally increases risk of cardio-metabolic disease and in doing so, hopes to identify optimal times across the life-course where interventions could reduce the incidence of cardio-metabolic diseases.

    Dr Gunn-Helen Moen

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

    Dr Gunn-Helen Moen was awarded her PhD on the "Genetic and environmental etiology of glucose metabolism and cardiometabolic traits during pregnancy and in later life" in 2019 from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. After finishing her PhD, she was awarded a Mobility/Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship from the Research Council of Norway and as part of that fellowship she spent two years as a visiting academic at the University of Queensland. She is currently an ARC DECRA fellow at IMB. Her research focus is on using Mendelian randomization to investigate the possible causal effects of maternal environmental exposures during pregnancy on offspring outcomes.

    Body: 

    Dr Gunn-Helen Moen was awarded her PhD on the "Genetic and environmental etiology of glucose metabolism and cardiometabolic traits during pregnancy and in later life" in 2019 from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. After finishing her PhD, she was awarded a Mobility/Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship from the Research Council of Norway and as part of that fellowship spent two years as a visiting academic at the University of Queensland. She is currently an ARC DECRA fellow at IMB. Her research focus is on using Mendelian randomization to investigate the possible causal effects of maternal environmental exposures during pregnancy on offspring outcomes.

    Ms Caroline Brito Nunes

    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Dr Alesha Hatton

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

    Visiting Researchers

    Dr Tom Bond

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

    Dr Gabriel Cuellar-Partida

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

    Students

    Mr Giulio Centorame

    PhD student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Ms Caitlin Decina

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

    Ms Shannon D’Urso

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

    Ms Emily Daubney

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

    Ms Kaitlyn Flynn

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

    Mr Mischa Lundberg

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

    Miss Alice Schulz

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

    Dr Geng Wang

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

    Dr. Geng Wang is a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in statistical genetics and genetic epidemiology at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland. His research focuses on the developmental origins of health and diseases, Mendelian randomization, the genetic susceptibility of complex traits and diseases, and the advancement of statistical genetics methodologies. Proficient in bioinformatics, statistical genetics, and clinical research, he has a background in clinical medicine and the biotechnology industry.

    Dr. Wang obtained his bachelor's degree in clinical medicine and master's degree in internal medicine from Second Military Medical University (Shanghai, China) in 2012 and 2016, respectively. He served as a resident physician at Changzheng Hospital, affiliated with Second Military Medical University, from 2016 to 2017, specialising in rheumatology, before being promoted to an attending doctor. During his time in Shanghai, he was invited to visit the Translational Research Institute (Australia) twice in 2016 and 2017 for bioinformatics training and collaborative research.

    Driven by his growing interest in human genetics, Dr. Wang pursued a Ph.D. in statistical genetics with Professor David Evans at the University of Queensland, which he successfully completed in 2023. Since then, he has continued his research in the aforementioned areas, contributing to the field with his diverse background and expertise.

  • Name: Dr Judy Halliday
    IMB: 2000 Biological Chemistry Group Leader (Glycobiology)
    Now: Chief Operating Officer, Office of the South Australian Chief Entrepreneur
  • Dr Caroline Holley is on a killing spree. She meticulously plans and oversees an untold number of “spectacular deaths” as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at IMB.
  • Research Fellow
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience

Pages

Strawberry DNA extraction activity

Extract and view DNA from a strawberry using common household ingredients.

Get started

 

The Edge: Infection

The latest research and discovery

We are tackling the problem of drug-resistant bacteria through developing new diagnostics and treatments, and by empowering the community with knowledge on how to fight back against the threat of superbugs.

 View the latest issue
 Download magazine

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.

Subscribe

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