Prof. Michael J Owen
Based at the Neurosciences and Mental Health Interdisciplinary Research Group, School of Medicine
Research Keywords
Schizophrenia genetics, Bipolar disorder genetics, Depression genetics, ADHD genetics.
Research Interests and Facilities
The neurobiological basis of the major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and ADHD is poorly understood. However, it is clear that genetics plays an important role in all of these. The goal of my research is to use cutting edge genomic techniques to identify specify risk genes and to use these discoveries to understand the neurobiology of these disorders. This work is underpinned by the availability of large, well-characterised patient samples, strong statistical and bioinformatics support and access to cutting edge genomics and molecular biology techniques as well as access to cognitive and behavioural neuroscience including the latest neuroimaging platforms.
Available PhD Projects
- Bioinformatic and molecular genetic analyses of gene pathways in schizophrenia.
- Genomic copy number variation in schizophrenia.
- Mouse models of psychiatric disorder.
- Mouse and rat models of psychiatric disorder.
- iPS Cell models of schizophrenia and related disorders.
Publications
- Murphy KC, Jones LA, Owen MJ. (1999) High rates of schizophrenia in adults with velo-cardio-facial syndrome. Archives of General Psychiatry 56:940-945.
- Kirov G, Gumus D, Chen W, Norton N, Georgieva L, Sari M, O'Donovan MC, Erdogan F, Owen MJ, Ropers H-H, and Ullmann R. (2008) Comparative genome hybridization suggests a role for NRXN1 and APBA2 in schizophrenia. Human Molecular Genetics 17:458-465.
- O’Donovan MC, Craddock N, Norton N, Williams H, Peirce T, Moskvina V, Nikolov I, Hamshere M, Carroll L, Georgieva L, Dwyer S, Holmans P, Marchini JL, Spencer CC, Howie B, Leung H-T, Hartmann AM, Möller HJ, Morris DW, Shi Y, Feng G, Hoffmann P, Propping P, Vasilescu C, Maier W, Rietschel M, Zammit S, Schumacher J, Quinn EM, Schulze TG, Williams NM, Giegling I, Iwata N, Ikeda M, Darvasi A, Shifman S, He L, Duan J, Sanders AR, Levinson DF, Gejman PV, Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia Collaboration , Gejman PV, Sanders AR, Duan J, Levinson DF, Buccola NG, Mowry BJ, Freedman R, Amin F, Black DW, Silverman JM, Byerley WF, Cloninger CR, Cichon S, Nöthen MM, Gill M, Corvin A, Rujescu D, Kirov G, Owen MJ. (2008) Identification of loci associated with schizophrenia by genome-wide association and follow-up. Nature Genetics 40: 1053-1055.
- Kirov G, Pocklington AJ, Holmans P, Ivanov D, Ikeda M, Ruderfer D, Moran J, Chambert K, Toncheva D, Georgieva L, Grozeva D, Fjodorova M, Wollerton R, Rees E, Nikolov I, van de Lagemaat LN, Bayés A, Fernandez E, Olason PI, Böttcher Y, Komiyama NH, Collins MO, Choudhary J, Stefansson K, Stefansson H, Grant SG, Purcell S, Sklar P, O'Donovan MC, Owen MJ. De novo CNV analysis implicates specific abnormalities of postsynaptic signalling complexes in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Mol Psychiatry. 2011 Nov 15. doi: 10.1038/mp.2011.154. [Epub ahead of print]