New researcher starting at Mater

Monday 10 September 2018

Dr Jake Gratten has joined Mater Research to head up the Cognitive Health Genomics group.

Dr Gratten is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow and uses large-scale genomic datasets to improve understanding of variation in cognitive health across the lifespan.

He received his PhD in population genetics from The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2004, and then undertook postdoctoral training in evolutionary and quantitative genetics at the University of Sheffield, before returning to UQ to apply his expertise to the study of common psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Through innovative analyses of whole genome datasets Dr Gratten’s research aims to progress understanding of these conditions, ranging from autism in infants through to Parkinson’s disease in the elderly.

Current research in the group includes analysis of the genetic relationship between parental age and risk of mental illness, investigation of the role of the gut microbiome in the development of anxiety and gastrointestinal problems in autism, and analysis of DNA methylation in Parkinson’s disease.
 

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