| Staff Details | ||||
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| Personal Information | ||
| Name | Morris, Derek | |
| Main Department | Psychiatry | |
| College Title | Assistant Professor | |
| derek.morris@tcd.ie | ||
| College Tel | +353 1 896 2424 | |
| Web | http://people.tcd.ie/morrisdw | |
| Biography | |
| Dr. Morris graduated with a B.Sc. in Biotechnology from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 1998. In 2001, he completed his PhD in molecular genetics at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK. The research undertaken during his PhD concentrated on trying to identify genes that contribute to reading disability / dyslexia. Since joining the Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group as a research fellow in 2001, Dr. Morris has worked on molecular genetic studies of schizophrenia. In 2003, he was awarded a HRB Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to investigate novel methods for mapping genes for complex diseases. In 2006, Dr. Morris was appointed Lecturer in Molecular Psychiatry within the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. | |
| Awards and Honours | |
| Award | Date |
| Alltech Student Scholarship | 1997 |
| HRB Postdoctoral Research Fellowship | 2003 |
| Research Interests | |||
| Bioinformatics | Biostatistics | GENE CONVERSION | GENE EXPRESSION |
| GENE MAPPING | GENE POLYMORPHISMS | Genetic/Molecular epidemiology | Genomic structure and function, molecular approaches to gene function |
| Human genetics | Mammilian and human genetics and genomics | Molecular population genetics | Psychiatric genetics |
| Psychiatry | Psychosis | Quantitative and molecular genetics | Quantitative genetics and genetics of complex traits |
| Schizophrenia |
| Research Projects | |
| Project title | Developing haplotype maps: a novel approach to identifying susceptibility genes for complex disorders |
| Summary | One of the most exciting developments in the wake of the Human Genome Project has been the discovery that linkage disequilibrium (LD) across stretches of genomic sequence is highly structured. Regions displaying very high levels of LD are termed haplotype blocks. The boundaries of these blocks are defined by recombination hot spots. The lengths of these blocks vary greatly, with large and small blocks being interspersed randomly. I plan to target susceptibility loci for schizophrenia using a LD mapping study design that incorporates knowledge of the underlying genetic structure of the loci. An analysis will be performed to determine the haplotype block structure of the putative susceptibility locus. Within each block, SNPs will be chosen that identify or ?tag? each common haplotype. Using haplotype-tagging SNPs will permit the capture of the vast majority of genetic diversity with minimum testing of genetic variation. These SNPs will be genotyped in separate pooled DNA samples of schizophrenia cases and controls. The use of pooled DNA instead of individual samples allows rapid, cheap and accurate estimation of allele and hence haplotype frequencies. As a novel protocol, it will be modified to integrate developments in the method over time. The initial target will be Neuregulin 1 on chromosome 8, a putative schizophrenia susceptibility gene. However, this will be a universal technique, equally applicable to any complex genetic disorder. |
| Funding Agency | Health Research Board, Ireland |
| Programme | Postdoctoral Fellowships |
| Type of Project | |
| Date from | 2003 |
| Date to | 2006 |
| Person Months | |
| Publications |
| Peer Reviewed |
| Morris DW, Murphy K, Kenny N, Purcell SM, McGhee KA, Schwaiger S, Nangle JM, Donohoe G, Clarke S, Scully P, Quinn J, Meagher D, Baldwin P, Crumlish N, O’Callaghan E, Waddington JL, Gill M, Corvin AP, Dysbindin (DTNBP1) and the BLOC-1 protein complex: main and epistatic gene effects are potential contributors to schizophrenia susceptibility, Biological Psychiatry, 63, (1), 2008, p24 - 31 Notes: [PMID: 17618940] Url Alt. Url DOI |
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| Mutsuddi M, Morris DW, Waggoner SG, Daly MJ, Scolnick EM, Sklar P, Analysis of high-resolution HapMap of DTNBP1 (Dysbindin) suggests no consistency between reported common variant associations and schizophrenia, American Journal of Human Genetics, 79, (5), 2006, p903 - 909 Notes: [PMID: 17033966] Url |
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