Supervisor(s): 

Professor Heather Cordell and Professor Andrew Morris

I graduated from Newcastle University with a First Class Honours degree in Biomedical Genetics in 2016. During this degree I undertook a short summer placement within Newcastle University Dental School. I am now doing a four year BBSRC NLD DTP PhD at Newcastle University, with my second supervisor based at the University of Liverpool. My research interest are in methods for integrating genetic data and omics data to learn more about common and complex diseases, especially the role of gene expression in these diseases.

Evaluation of methodology for transcriptomic imputation into genome-wide association studies of complex human traits to infer causal mechanisms 

Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have been successful at detecting associations between genotype and disease, however, further work is needed to understand the precise biological mechanism underlying these associations. Transcriptome imputation enables the prediction of an individual’s gene expression levels based on only their genetic data. This methodology can be used on GWAS data sets to impute large amounts of gene expression data which can be used to detect associations between gene expression and disease. This would enable further understanding of the role of gene expression in disease.

My project will examine the currently available methodologies for transcriptome imputation and evaluate the accuracy and ability of these methodologies to detect associations between gene expression and common/complex diseases. I will also be applying these methods to data for a range of diseases.

Where did I get my PIPs

My PhD is non-CASE, meaning I will undertake a 3 month PIPS internship placement.

PIPS Internship Organisation Name 

BBSRC

Location

Swindon

When deciding on your internship, what did you want to experience and what did you hope to gain from that experience? 

I wanted to gain experience of a career outside of academia and to understand how I can still use my scientific skills/knowledge in a career out of the lab.  I also wanted to learn more about science funding and policy.

Did you get the experience you were expecting and did you achieve the personal development you had hoped to make? 

Yes- through this experience I learned more about the range of careers available to me.

Has the internship made you feel differently about potential career options and has it helped to put the skills from research into a broader context?

Yes- after this internship I am now more seriously considering a career outside of academia.