Laboratory Manager and Health and Safety Co-ordinator

Laboratory

Left the Unit in 2016

Work and interests

Joining the unit in late 2007 Chris was the Lab manager for the genetics lab within the Laboratory team. The lab is responsible for all DNA variation work including the development of new methods and the assurance and control of data quality. In addition to these responsibilities Chris Co-ordinated the Unit’s Health and Safety. Chris left the Unit in November 2016.

Background and experience

Chris received a BSC Hons in Biochemistry from the University of Sussex in 1997. He was then privileged to work on the construction of the physical maps of Chr1, 6, 10 and 13 for the Human Genome Project at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute. In 2005 he joined Chris Tyler Smith’s Human Evolution team also within the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute where he worked assaying human variation in study samples from diverse human populations. As the potential for new technologies evolves Chris continues to be interested in human variation and the methods used to study it.

Chris gained his National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (Distinction) in 2012. He provided advice, guidance and coordination for all aspects of Health and Safety within the unit.

Publications

• MRC Epidemiology Unit publications on the Publications Database

Selected publications

1. Yaghootkar H et al. Mendelian randomization studies do not support a causal role for reduced circulating adiponectin levels in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes. 2013 Oct;62(10):3589-98.
2. Ye Z, Gillson C et al. The association of the mitochondrial DNA OriB variant (16184-16193 polycytosine tract) with type 2 diabetes in Europid populations. Diabetologia. 2013 Sep;56(9):1907-13.
3. de Gruijter JM et al. Contrasting signals of positive selection in genes involved in human skin-color variation from tests based on SNP scans and resequencing. Investig Genet. 2011 Dec 1;2(1):24.
4. Xue Y et al. Population differentiation as an indicator of recent positive selection in humans: an empirical evaluation. Genetics. 2009 Nov;183(3):1065-77.
5. Ong KK et al. Genetic variation in LIN28B is associated with the timing of puberty. Nat Genet. 2009 Jun;41(6):729-33
6. Willer CJ et al. Six new loci associated with body mass index highlight a neuronal influence on body weight regulation. Nat Genet. 2009 Jan;41(1):25-34
7. Gregory SG et al. The DNA sequence and biological annotation of human chromosome 1. Nature. 2006 May 18;441(7091):315-21.
8. Dunham A et al. The DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 13. Nature. 2004 Apr 1;428(6982):522-8.
9. Mungall AJ et al. The DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 6. Nature. 2003 Oct 23;425(6960):805-11.
10. Bentley DR et al. The physical maps for sequencing human chromosomes 1, 6, 9, 10, 13, 20 and X. Nature. 2001 Feb 15;409(6822):942-3.