Robert Young
Academic Track Lecturer (Zhejiang)
- Usher Institute
- College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Usher Institute – University of Edinburgh
Old Medical School
Teviot Place - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
2019 – Present: Academic Track Lecturer (Zhejiang)
2012 – 2019: Research Associate, MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh
2007 – 2011: DPhil, MRC Functional Genomics Unit, University of Oxford
Research summary
MAPPING NONCODING REGULATION IN POPULATIONS
Investigating how variation in complex traits and disease is driven by variation in the genomic content of noncoding, regulatory loci.
It is now almost routinely possible to identify genetic mutations across the human genome which drive disease or regulate complex human traits. However, the majority of these mutations are found in noncoding regions beyond the borders of known genes which makes their interpretation challenging. These noncoding regions encode a range of regulatory functions to control when and where genes are expressed.
Promoters are one type of such noncoding loci, responsible for regulating gene transcription initiation and which are significantly enriched for these phenotypically-associated variants. I have shown that these elements have undergone pervasive birth and death during mammalian evolution. Surprisingly, it is those promoters which are evolutionarily volatile which are most likely to harbour functionally important, regulatory variants within the human population.
My research studies the regulatory landscape of the human genome to discover how its rewiring drives variation across individuals, populations and species.
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Genetic variation and RNA structure regulate microRNA biogenesis
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15114
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Bidirectional transcription initiation marks accessible chromatin and is not specific to enhancers
In:
Genome Biology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-017-1379-8
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Aberrant ribonucleotide incorporation and multiple deletions in mitochondrial DNA of the murine MPV17 disease model
In:
Nucleic Acids Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx1009
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
RNA MEETS DNA: The potential for gene expression to produce short RNA molecules capable of generating DNA mutation and driving genome evolution
In:
BioEssays
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201700141
Contribution to journal › Comment/debate (Published) -
Lineage-specific genomics : Frequent birth and death in the human genome: The human genome contains many lineage-specific elements created by both sequence and functional turnover
In:
BioEssays
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500192
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Enhancer Turnover Is Associated with a Divergent Transcriptional Response to Glucocorticoid in Mouse and Human Macrophages
In:
Journal of Immunology, vol. 196, no. 2, pp. 813-822
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1502009
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
The Constrained Maximal Expression Level Owing to Haploidy Shapes Gene Content on the Mammalian X Chromosome
In:
PLoS Biology, vol. 13, no. 12
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002315
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Divergent transcriptional activation by glucocorticoids in mouse and human macrophages
In:
The Lancet, vol. 385 , no. Suppl 1, pp. S54
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60369-5
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
The frequent evolutionary birth and death of functional promoters in mouse and human
In:
Genome Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.190546.115
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
The RNA-Editing Enzyme ADAR1 Controls Innate Immune Responses to RNA
(13 pages)
In:
Cell Reports, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 1482-94
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2014.10.041
Contribution to journal › Article (Published)