We are interested in all thing omics, epidemiology, and ageing. Our group are based in the Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
Our primary research goal is to use computational models to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer’s disease, leading to enhanced prediction, and ultimately mitigation of the disease. We have a passion for research into ageing and, in particular, examining the genetic and environmental contributions to health and neurodegeneration.
Our primary research goal is to use computational models to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer’s disease, leading to enhanced prediction, and ultimately mitigation of the disease. We have a passion for research into ageing and, in particular, examining the genetic and environmental contributions to health and neurodegeneration.
News
2025
May: Riccardo and Sarah Harris jointly host a proteomics mol epi meeting in IGC, sponsored by Optima Partners and One Health Genomics Edinburgh
Apr: Xiaopu Zhang from KCL visits for 2 weeks to run mQTL analyses in GS for the GoDMC consortium
Apr: Riccardo joins the Grant Review Board for the Alzheimer's Society
Apr: Maira Pyrgioti joins us for a PhD rotation project
Apr: Riccardo gives an online talk to the CALERIE trial annual meeting
Apr: Hannah goes on a research trip to the Karolinska Institute to work with Ida Karlsson and the SATSA cohort.
Mar: Riccardo gives a talk on Ola's DNAm sequencing work at the Epigenomics of Common Diseases meeting in Cambridge
Mar: Ola is awarded a 12 month postdoc fellowship from the MRC Precision Medicine DTP
Jan: We co-publish a paper on a saliva-based DNAm predictor of inflammation in Aging Cell (paper led by Hurdle and Bayer).
Jan: Uffaq Mahstoor joins us for a PhD rotation project
Jan: Ella Shuttleworth joins the group for her BSc dissertation project
Jan: Riccardo gives a talk at the Festival of Genomics, London
2024
Nov: Daniel moves to a f/t position with Optima Partners
Nov: Yipeng successfully defends his PhD thesis.
Oct: Jure moves to a post at the University of Luxembourg
Oct: Riccardo gives a talk at the Biomarkers of Aging meeting at Harvard
Sep: Riccardo joins the international advisory group for a NZ/Maori lung cancer screening project (PI Sue Crengle).
Sep: Riccardo visits the Chandra and Kirschner labs at the Mayo Clinic and gives a talk for the Kogod Seminar Series on Aging
Aug: Sarah Harris awarded $4.1m NIH grant to generate longitudinal proteomics in LBC1936 (Riccardo is a Co-I).
Aug: Riccardo gives a Breakfast Club talk to Alzheimer's Society fundraisers
July: Riccardo presents to a visiting party from the UoE Zhenjiang Institute
July: Riccardo gives a keynote talk at Aging Cell's annual conference, Edinburgh
May: Riccardo gives a Grand Rounds seminar (online) at the Mayo Clinic
May: Riccardo and Josie attend EMBL workshop on the exposome, Heidelberg
May: We host Steve Horvath for the IGC Seminar
Apr: Riccardo gives a keynote lecture at EMGM, Vienna
Mar: Riccardo speaks at the launch of BioXcelerateAI, a division of Optima Partners
Mar: Christos Mavrommatis joins us for his MScRes dissertation
Feb: Danni passes her PhD viva! Many thanks to the examiners: James Boardman and Paul Yousefi
Feb: Riccardo hosts Prof Sir Rory Collins for the IGC Seminar
Jan: Danni joins the UK Health Security Agency as a Senior Health Analyst
Jan: Rob joins Public Health Scotland as a Senior Information Analyst
Jan: Alexandra Lesayova joins us for a PhD rotation project
2023
Nov: PhD students Caitlin Dollin and Lauren Crawford, from the University of Ulster, visit us for a fortnight.
Nov: Riccardo attends UK Biobank event in the House of Lords to celebrate the launch of 500k WGS data.
Oct: Riccardo joins a Government Office for Science Genomics Roundtable on the expected development of human genome databases between now and 2030
Sep: Riccardo presents the group's work to the Population Health team at the Scottish Government
Aug: Josie Robertson joins us as an ECAT PhD student.
July: High school student Alex Cheng joins us for a 3-day work experience placement.
July: We host a local high school student for the afternoon to talk about career opportunities.
July: Riccardo gives a presentation to Alzheimer's Society fundraisers in NW England.
June: Riccardo gives a keynote e-talk at the Epigenetics Bootcamp meeting (Columbia University, NYC).
June: Riccardo and Daniel are part of a UoE delegation to NTU Singapore to build a joint postdoc exchange program.
May: Two-day group retreat to the MRC IEU, Bristol.
May: Riccardo and Danni visit MIT Broad and Biogen with colleagues from Optima.
May: Daniel and Elena join the LBC team at the cohort reunion event.
May: Scott Pirrie (from Optima Partners) joins us p/t for his MSc in Biomedical AI.
April: Yipeng's Nature Aging paper gets covered by the national press.
April: Daniel and Riccardo join the GenScot team at the Edinburgh Science Festival.
March: Karla Monterrubio-Gomez joins the team as a post-doc on the AlzSoc grant.
March: Daniel and Danni join Optima Partners as p/t employees.
March: We host Prof Ewan Birney for his trip to IGC.
2022
Oct : Riccardo gives a seminar to the Medicine of the Elderly team at the Western General Hospital.
Sep: Danni visits the McRae Lab at UQ.
Sep: Alesha Hatton joins us from the McRae Lab at UQ for a 6-week research visit.
Sep: Hannah Smith joins the team for her PhD.
August: Riccardo is promoted to a Personal Chair in Molecular Epidemiology of Ageing.
June: Yipeng begins his Helsinki-based PhD work with Andrea Ganna at FIMM.
June: Rob is awarded and begins a secondment fellowship at the MRC IEU, Bristol.
May: Danni wins best presentation at the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium conference
Feb: Our YouTube channel is launched!
Feb: EpiScores paper published in eLife along with Insight commentary article
2021
Dec: Rob awarded the Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize
Oct: Rob passes his viva with no corrections!
Oct: Alzheimer's Society grant begins. Elena Bernabeu joins the group as a postdoc
Sep: New Precision Medicine PhD student, Ola Chybowska, joins the group
July: Rob Hillary submits his PhD thesis
June: Dan Simpson passes his PhD viva!
Apr: Alzheimer's Society grant award
Apr: Riccardo joins the management team for the Biomedical AI PhD program
Apr: Dan Simpson submits his PhD thesis
Feb: Anna passes her PhD viva with no corrections!
2020
Nov: Riccardo is now a Co-Investigator of the Generation Scotland study
Nov: Anna submits her PhD thesis
May: Riccardo and Sarah Harris jointly host a proteomics mol epi meeting in IGC, sponsored by Optima Partners and One Health Genomics Edinburgh
Apr: Xiaopu Zhang from KCL visits for 2 weeks to run mQTL analyses in GS for the GoDMC consortium
Apr: Riccardo joins the Grant Review Board for the Alzheimer's Society
Apr: Maira Pyrgioti joins us for a PhD rotation project
Apr: Riccardo gives an online talk to the CALERIE trial annual meeting
Apr: Hannah goes on a research trip to the Karolinska Institute to work with Ida Karlsson and the SATSA cohort.
Mar: Riccardo gives a talk on Ola's DNAm sequencing work at the Epigenomics of Common Diseases meeting in Cambridge
Mar: Ola is awarded a 12 month postdoc fellowship from the MRC Precision Medicine DTP
Jan: We co-publish a paper on a saliva-based DNAm predictor of inflammation in Aging Cell (paper led by Hurdle and Bayer).
Jan: Uffaq Mahstoor joins us for a PhD rotation project
Jan: Ella Shuttleworth joins the group for her BSc dissertation project
Jan: Riccardo gives a talk at the Festival of Genomics, London
2024
Nov: Daniel moves to a f/t position with Optima Partners
Nov: Yipeng successfully defends his PhD thesis.
Oct: Jure moves to a post at the University of Luxembourg
Oct: Riccardo gives a talk at the Biomarkers of Aging meeting at Harvard
Sep: Riccardo joins the international advisory group for a NZ/Maori lung cancer screening project (PI Sue Crengle).
Sep: Riccardo visits the Chandra and Kirschner labs at the Mayo Clinic and gives a talk for the Kogod Seminar Series on Aging
Aug: Sarah Harris awarded $4.1m NIH grant to generate longitudinal proteomics in LBC1936 (Riccardo is a Co-I).
Aug: Riccardo gives a Breakfast Club talk to Alzheimer's Society fundraisers
July: Riccardo presents to a visiting party from the UoE Zhenjiang Institute
July: Riccardo gives a keynote talk at Aging Cell's annual conference, Edinburgh
May: Riccardo gives a Grand Rounds seminar (online) at the Mayo Clinic
May: Riccardo and Josie attend EMBL workshop on the exposome, Heidelberg
May: We host Steve Horvath for the IGC Seminar
Apr: Riccardo gives a keynote lecture at EMGM, Vienna
Mar: Riccardo speaks at the launch of BioXcelerateAI, a division of Optima Partners
Mar: Christos Mavrommatis joins us for his MScRes dissertation
Feb: Danni passes her PhD viva! Many thanks to the examiners: James Boardman and Paul Yousefi
Feb: Riccardo hosts Prof Sir Rory Collins for the IGC Seminar
Jan: Danni joins the UK Health Security Agency as a Senior Health Analyst
Jan: Rob joins Public Health Scotland as a Senior Information Analyst
Jan: Alexandra Lesayova joins us for a PhD rotation project
2023
Nov: PhD students Caitlin Dollin and Lauren Crawford, from the University of Ulster, visit us for a fortnight.
Nov: Riccardo attends UK Biobank event in the House of Lords to celebrate the launch of 500k WGS data.
Oct: Riccardo joins a Government Office for Science Genomics Roundtable on the expected development of human genome databases between now and 2030
Sep: Riccardo presents the group's work to the Population Health team at the Scottish Government
Aug: Josie Robertson joins us as an ECAT PhD student.
July: High school student Alex Cheng joins us for a 3-day work experience placement.
July: We host a local high school student for the afternoon to talk about career opportunities.
July: Riccardo gives a presentation to Alzheimer's Society fundraisers in NW England.
June: Riccardo gives a keynote e-talk at the Epigenetics Bootcamp meeting (Columbia University, NYC).
June: Riccardo and Daniel are part of a UoE delegation to NTU Singapore to build a joint postdoc exchange program.
May: Two-day group retreat to the MRC IEU, Bristol.
May: Riccardo and Danni visit MIT Broad and Biogen with colleagues from Optima.
May: Daniel and Elena join the LBC team at the cohort reunion event.
May: Scott Pirrie (from Optima Partners) joins us p/t for his MSc in Biomedical AI.
April: Yipeng's Nature Aging paper gets covered by the national press.
April: Daniel and Riccardo join the GenScot team at the Edinburgh Science Festival.
March: Karla Monterrubio-Gomez joins the team as a post-doc on the AlzSoc grant.
March: Daniel and Danni join Optima Partners as p/t employees.
March: We host Prof Ewan Birney for his trip to IGC.
2022
Oct : Riccardo gives a seminar to the Medicine of the Elderly team at the Western General Hospital.
Sep: Danni visits the McRae Lab at UQ.
Sep: Alesha Hatton joins us from the McRae Lab at UQ for a 6-week research visit.
Sep: Hannah Smith joins the team for her PhD.
August: Riccardo is promoted to a Personal Chair in Molecular Epidemiology of Ageing.
June: Yipeng begins his Helsinki-based PhD work with Andrea Ganna at FIMM.
June: Rob is awarded and begins a secondment fellowship at the MRC IEU, Bristol.
May: Danni wins best presentation at the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium conference
Feb: Our YouTube channel is launched!
Feb: EpiScores paper published in eLife along with Insight commentary article
2021
Dec: Rob awarded the Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize
Oct: Rob passes his viva with no corrections!
Oct: Alzheimer's Society grant begins. Elena Bernabeu joins the group as a postdoc
Sep: New Precision Medicine PhD student, Ola Chybowska, joins the group
July: Rob Hillary submits his PhD thesis
June: Dan Simpson passes his PhD viva!
Apr: Alzheimer's Society grant award
Apr: Riccardo joins the management team for the Biomedical AI PhD program
Apr: Dan Simpson submits his PhD thesis
Feb: Anna passes her PhD viva with no corrections!
2020
Nov: Riccardo is now a Co-Investigator of the Generation Scotland study
Nov: Anna submits her PhD thesis