Molecular Epidemiology

Group Leader

Professor Grant Montgomery

Summary

The Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory investigates complex diseases in families to identify genes and pathways contributing to disease risk.

The laboratory seeks to identify genes and gene pathways contributing to risk for common human diseases including melanoma, migraine, depression and alcohol, nicotine and drug dependence, with a particular focus on women’s health projects involving the genetics of endometriosis and dizygotic twinning. They provide most of the ‘wet work’ for subsequent ‘dry lab’ studies by QIMR’s Genetic Epidemiology, Queensland Statistical Genetics and Neurogenetics Laboratories.

Conditions researched

• Endometriosis
• Melanoma 
• Alcohol, nicotine and drug dependence
• Migraine
• Depression
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Twins and twinning

Current research

• Endometriosis
• Dizygotic twins
• Genetic Epidemiology studies

Staff

Group Leader: Dr Grant Montgomery

Research Officers: Dr Zhen Zhen Zhao, Dr Penelope Lind, Dr Jodie Painter

Laboratory Coordinators: Anjali Henders

Research Assistants: Anthony Caracella, Leanne Wallace, Lisa Bardsley, Steve Crooks, Sara Smith, Melinda Richter

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following funding agencies:

• National Health and Medical Research Council
• National Cancer Institute
• NIH (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - USA)
• NIH (National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse - USA)
• NIH (National Institute of Drug Abuse - USA)
• Wellcome Trust

Collaborators

Internal:

Professor Nick Martin and other senior researchers, Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory.

Professor Nick Hayward, Oncogenomics Laboratory.

Dr Graham Radford-Smith, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Laboratory of the RBWH Research Foundation

External:

Professor Stephen Kennedy, Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, UK

Professor Dorret Boomsma, Netherlands Twin Registry, Department of Biological Psychology, Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Associate Professor Peter Rogers, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Professor Andrew Heath, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University Medical School, St Louis, USA

Dr Elliot Nelson, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University Medical School, St Louis, USA

Oxford, UK

Boston,  USA