The group is led by Dr Yalda Jamshidi, and comprises a diverse group of scientists at all levels who are passionate about genetics.
Yalda is Reader in Genomic Medicine at St George's University of London where she co-directs the Genetics Research Centre. She trained at University College London and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute of Child Health and Kings College London before taking an academic position at St.George’s in 2006.
research
Dr Jamshidi’s research interests focus on understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms of electrocardiographic structure and function at the population level. She also has a key interest in the use of the latest genetic technologies to uncover the underlying genetic causes of rare inherited conditions. Her group is applying the discoveries, and novel technologies, to identify genes and pathways which can lead to increased susceptibility to rare cardiac and skeletal muscle conditions. Her aim is to translate genetic discoveries into an improved understanding of human physiology through clinically-focused research, and define the role of genetics in disease diagnosis and in predicting patients’ risk of disease.
OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
Dr Jamshidi has a Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare and Biomedical Education and has taught molecular biology and genetics to medical, BSc and PhD/MRes students. She is the module lead for the Cardiovascular Genetics module which is part of the MSc in Genomic Medicine offered at St George's, and lectures on undergraduate and postgraduate genetics modules. She initiated and ran the Cloning, Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine module offered to medical students who choose to undertake an Intercalated BSc, and to third year Biomedical Science BSc students.
She is personal tutor to both Medical students and Biomedical Science BSc students, and is currently an external examiner for the Genomic Medicine MSc at Exeter University.
She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (as of April 2016), a local representative for the Genetics Society. She is a member of the editorial board for the European Journal of Human Genetics, the Physiological Genomics Journal and the Journal Genes.
She is keen to share her excitement about our research with the public through seminars at local schools, interactions on social media, and talking to patient advocacy groups to see what the patients themselves want from our research. She also works with the Science Media Centre, an independent press office helping to ensure that the public have access to the best scientific evidence and expertise through the news media when science hits the headlines.
Visit our outreach page to learn more about our work outside of the lab!
LAB MEMBERS:
Constance Maurer, BSc, MSc
Constance did a Masters in Genetics of Human Disease at UCL and then worked as a research assistant at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. More recently she has been working as a data scientist for a start up company and will now be applying those skills and picking up some new ones as part of her PhD project to investigate rare diseases in our Middle Eastern Genomes Cohort.
Oliver Hines, BSc, MSc
Reza Maroofian, PhD
Ehsan Ghayoor Karimiani, MD, MRes, PhD
Oliver Hines is writing up his PhD work looking at high-dimensional causal inference methods to unravel the role of genetics in determining heart rhythm. He is an MRC-LID PhD student registered at SGUL and LSHTM (LSHTM project supervisor Karla Diaz-Ordaz). Oliver did his undergraduate degree at Imperial in the Department of Physics and has recently completed an MSc in Statistics in the Department of Mathematics at Imperial.
Reza recently completed his PhD entitled "Defining the genetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders in the Amish". As an honorary post doctoral research assistant he is continuing to collaborate with us on a broad range of disorders within consanguineous families, trying to identify their underlying genetic cause.
Dr Ehsan Ghayoor Karimiani is a Consultant Medical Geneticist and Honorary Lecturer in our group. He obtained his medical degree from Azad Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, later completing his PLAB (General Medical Council Board) with full registration in the UK in 2006. He went on to complete an MRes in Molecular Medicine, and a PhD in Medical Genetics at Manchester University. His research interests include rare recessive Mendelian disorders.
CURRENT PROJECT STUDENTS
KEY Collaborators
Population genetics:
Prof Harold Snieder, Dr Ilja Nolte - University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Prof Tim D Spector, TwinsUK, Department of Twin Research and Epidemiology, Kings College London, UK
Prof Nona Sotoodehnia, University of Washington, Seattle, US.
In vivo models:
Dr Dan Osborn, SGUL Genetics Centre
Dr Chris Carroll, SGUL Genetics Centre
Rare disease:
Dr Chiara Manzini, George Washington University, Washington DC, US.
Dr. Rebecca Schuele, Department Neurodegenerative Diseases, Tübingen, Germany.
PAST-LAB MEMBERS
Post-Docs:
Bram Prins
Dr Dongling Zheng - Post Doc
PAST MD/PHD Students:
Following his postdoc in our group where he worked as a statistical geneticist looking at the link between rare and common genetic variation in determining cardiac conduction, Bram moved to the group of Prof Ele Zeggini at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge in 2015, and is now an MRC Career Development Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
Reza Maroofian
Reza completed his PhD in 2018. He is now working as a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Prof Henry Houlden, at the University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology.
Evmorfia Petropoulou
Chrysoula Dalageorgou
Evmorfia completed her PhD in 2017, entitled “Investigating the Underlying Genetic Mechanisms of Inherited Cardiac Disorders”, following a Masters in Research project developing hESC-cardiomyocytes as a disease model. She is now a Project Scientist at University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany.
Chrysoula completed her PhD, “Genetic studies of Long QT syndrome” in 2012. She now works in the Centre for Heart Muscle Disease, led by Prof Perry Elliott, which is part of the Institute of Cardiovascular Science at University College London.
past MSC Genomic Medicine students:
Philippa Curry (2018/19); Zahra Waheed (2018/19); Aoife Ruane (2017/18); Isobel White (2017/18); Lydia Inema (2016/17)
past MRes Biomedical Science Students:
William Stockdale Cardiovascular Genetics (Distinction) 2014/15
Jaipreet Bharj Cardiovascular Genetics (Merit) 2013/14 Evmorfia Petropoulou Cardiovascular Genetics (Distinction) 2012/13 Merve Uysaloglu Cardiovascular Genetics (Distinction) 2012/13
Thulasi Nithiyananthan Cardiovascular Genetics (Distinction) 2007/08
PAST undergraduate SUMMER/PLACEMENT Students:
Heather Jeffery (awarded Genetics Society summer studentship, 2016) - now studying PhD University of Oxford.
Emily Cooper (2018/19) - now studying Medicine at St George’s; Ruth Wright (2018/19) - now studying MSc Genomic Medicine; Nardos Abraham (2016/2017); Siavash Tohidi, Yusof Ali (2015/2016); Hamza Naeem, Ali Sohail, Chantal Roberts, Huda Khalif (2014/2015); Sokol Shala, Joao Pequeno Vieira (2013/2014).
IT'S NOT ALL HARD WORK
Fun whilst attending the Functional Genomics Conference in Santorini, Greece.
Quick lunch in the local Tooting eatery.
With PhD students past and present, Jaipreet Bharj, Evmorfia Petropoulou and Chrysoula Dalageorgou, at the American Society of Human Genetics Conference in San Diego, US.
At Graduation, Barbican, London.
With former PhD student Chrysoula Dalageorgou at the Functional Genomics Conference in Santorini, Greece.
Former PhD student Evmorfia Petropoulou checking out the Boston Pizza whilst attending the Heart Rhythm Congress.