Pharmacogenomics and Genetics of Complex Diseases Research Group

Research Achievements

We are a cross-faculty research group with many individual achievements. In broad terms these include:

  • Collection of a series of large scale DNA banks from well-characterised patient cohorts including colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, different liver, cardiac, periodontal, renal and endocrine diseases as well as common diseases of the elderly.
  • Use of these collections to promote national and international collaborations in mapping complex disease genes. International collaborations include studies on immune liver disease (Donaldson) Leber Hereditary Neuropathy (Chinnery), Type 2 diabetes (Walker), alcoholic liver disease (Day), cardiomyopathy (Keavney) and periodontal disease (Taylor). National collaborations include studies on colorectal cancer (Burn), IBD (Mansfield), Graves' Disease (Pearce) and vesico-ureteric reflux (Goodship).
  • A consistent record of publication in the top-specialist journals in our respective branches of medicine and non-specialist top rated journals.

Research Strategy

We will continue to utilise our strong national and international reputations, and our large well-characterised sample collections, to place the group at the centre of national and international collaborations aimed at fine-mapping the genes involved in the pathogenesis of complex (common) diseases. Our population is ideal for genetic studies and we have an excellent interaction with Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust. We recognise and hope to build upon the major success of the Institute of Genetic Medicine and will work closely with the newly established Bioinformatics Group within the Institute to develop and apply high throughput SNP technology to our various populations. Since the Group was formed there have been two important strategic developments. First the acquisition of a high throughput genotyping facility located in the Institute of Genetic Medicine and second the procurement of Headroom funding to appoint a Chair of Statistical Genetics.

Further information about this area of research can be found at the Institute of Genetic Medicine.

Staff List

Rg_pharmacogenomics

Professor Alan Boddy
Professor of Cancer Pharmacology

Dr Colin Brown
Senior Lecturer

Professor Sir John Burn
Professor of Clinical Genetics

Professor Patrick Chinnery
Wellcome Senior Fellow in Clinical Science, Professor of Neurogenetics and Honorary Consultant

Professor Heather Cordell
Professor of Statistical Genetics

Professor Ann Daly
Professor of Pharmacogenetics

Professor Chris Day
PVC/Provost of Medical Sciences

Professor Anne Dickinson
Professor of Marrow Transplant Biology

Dr Peter Donaldson
Senior Lecturer

Professor Dianne Ford
Professor of Molecular Nutrition

Professor Judith Goodship
Professor of Medical Genetics

Professor Tim Goodship
Professor of Renal Medicine

Professor Andy Hall
Director of NICR

Professor John Edward Hesketh
Professor of Mammalian Molecular Biology

Dr Julie Irving
Reader in Experimental Haematology

Professor Farhad Kamali
Professor

Professor Bernard Keavney
Professor of Cardiology

Dr John Mansfield
Senior Lecturer/Consultant

Dr Christopher Morris
Senior Lecturer

Dr Elaine Mutch
Lecturer

Professor Julia Newton
Associate Dean for Clinical Developments and Clinical Professor of Ageing and Medicine

Professor Simon Pearce
Prof of Endocrinology

Professor Philip Preshaw
Professor of Periodontology

Dr John Taylor
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Immunology

Professor Mark Walker
Professor of Molecular Diabetic Medicine

Dr Jolanta Weaver
Senior Lecturer

Professor Faith Williams
Strategic Research Advisor

Dr Ian Wilson
Lecturer