Pippa Thomson Research Group
The genetics of mental health and cognition
Section: Translational Epidemiology

Research in a Nutshell
We are using genetics to understand how the brain controls behaviour through studying genetic susceptibility to psychiatric illness (depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia). The group combines both genetic, statistical and molecular approaches to understand the genetic basis of major mental illness. We continue this work, using linkage, association and whole genome sequence analysis to identify risk variants for mental illness and related quantitative traits such as cognition and mood, in both clinical and population-based cohorts. Key to this is using bioinformatics to understand the biological processes affected and integrating our understanding of the interaction between genetic and environmental effects acting on these complex phenotypes.

People |
|
Dr Pippa Thomson | Group leader |
Dr Niamh Ryan | Post doctoral scientist |
Aleix Arnau Soler | PhD student |
Contact
Collaborations
- Professor Andrew Mcintosh, University of Edinburgh
- Professor Stephen Lawrie, University of Edinburgh
- Professor Richard W. McCombie, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Scientific Themes
Genetics of complex traits, bioinformatics, psychiatric illness, cognition.
Technology Expertise
Statistics, sequence analysis, analysis of rare and common DNA variation, analysis of families and case-control data.