Robert Hillary
Research Fellow

- Usher Institute
- College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Contact details
- Email: robert.hillary@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Centre for Genomic & Experimental Medicine
Institute of Genetics & Cancer
University of Edinburgh
Western General Hospital Crewe Road South - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH4 2XU
Background
I am a molecular epidemiologist with an interest in using multiple lines of ‘omics’ data to understand biological mechanisms that underpin complex disease states. I hold an independent British Heart Foundation Immediate Fellowship to examine the utility of glycomics in predicting cardiovascular disease and related co-morbidities (2023-2027). I lead a multi-centre collaboration between the University of Edinburgh, University of Bristol, University College Dublin and Charité Medicine University Berlin in this programme.
I previously held a one-year MRC-funded Fellowship to lead a collaborative epigenomics project between the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol and Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh (2022-2023). Prior to that, I held a six-month postdoctoral position in Epigenetic Epidemiology within the Marioni Group, University of Edinburgh (2021-2022). I obtained my PhD as part of the Wellcome 4-year PhD in Translational Neuroscience (2017-2021, University of Edinburgh), and I was awarded the Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize by the Genetics Society for outstanding performance in population genetics based on my doctoral research.
CV

Qualifications
2021, PhD in Translational Neuroscience (funded by Wellcome Trust), The University of Edinburgh
2020, Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
2017, BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science (Pharmacology Major), First Class Honours with Highest Honours, National University of Ireland, Galway
Responsibilities & affiliations
Secretary for Molecular Epidemiology UK (https://www.meg-uk.org/)
Research summary
- Statistcal methods for integrating multi-omic data
- Multi-omics approaches to study the role of proteins in disease
- The role of post-translational modifications in common disease states
-
Refining epigenetic prediction of chronological and biological age
In:
Genome Medicine, vol. 15
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-023-01161-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Metabolomic investigation of major depressive disorder identifies a potentially causal association with polyunsaturated fatty acids
In:
Biological Psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.01.027
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Structural brain correlates of childhood trauma with replication across two large, independent community-based samples
(25 pages)
In:
European Psychiatry, pp. 1-25
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.2347
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Identification of influential probe types in epigenetic predictions of human traits: implications for microarray design
In:
Clinical Epigenetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-022-01320-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Integrated methylome and phenome study of the circulating proteome reveals markers pertinent to brain health
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 13, pp. 4670
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32319-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Longitudinal dynamics of clonal hematopoiesis identifies gene-specific fitness effects
In:
Nature Medicine
DOI: https://doi.org//10.1038/s41591-022-01
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Genome and epigenome wide studies of plasma protein biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease implicate TBCA and TREM2 in disease risk
In:
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, vol. 14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12280
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A comparison of blood and brain-derived ageing and inflammation-related DNA methylation signatures and their association with microglial burdens
In:
European Journal of Neuroscience
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15661
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The genetic and epigenetic profile of serum S100β in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 and its relationship to Alzheimer’s disease
In:
Wellcome Open Research , vol. 6, pp. 306
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17322.1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Blood-based epigenome-wide analyses of cognitive abilities
In:
Genome Biology, vol. 23
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-021-02596-5
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Epigenetic scores for the circulating proteome as tools for disease prediction
(24 pages)
In:
eLIFE, vol. 11
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71802
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Creating and validating a DNA methylation-based proxy for interleukin-6
(9 pages)
In:
The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol. 76, pp. 2284-2292
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab046
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The neuropathology of autism: A systematic review of post-mortem studies of autism and related disorders
In:
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 129, pp. 35-62
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.07.014
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Building a Systematic Online Living Evidence Summary of COVID-19 Research
In:
Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries, vol. 17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32384/jeahil17465
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Epigenetic predictors of lifestyle traits applied to the blood and brain
In:
Brain Communications
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab082
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
MethylDetectR: a software for methylation-based health profiling
In:
Wellcome Open Research , vol. 5, pp. 283
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16458.2
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Meta-analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation identifies shared associations across neurodegenerative disorders
In:
Genome Biology, vol. 22
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-021-02275-5
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Identification of plasma proteins relating to brain neurodegeneration and vascular pathology in cognitively normal individuals
In:
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12240
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A multi–omics approach to understand the role of plasma proteins in cognitive ageing and dementia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7488/era/1930
Research output: › Doctoral Thesis (Published) -
Structural brain correlates of serum and epigenetic markers of inflammation in major depressive disorder
In:
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.11.024
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)