We have a fully funded BBSRC DTP studentship available: “Rare variant burden scores across the medical spectrum: effects on disease liability and on common traits and phenotypes” (project reference TRG27-CHI-EO1).

The project will build rare variant burden scores across a wide range of disease areas and test how they shape disease liability as well as common traits and phenotypes. Plenty of scope to make it your own. 🔍

Who we’re looking for: the ideal candidate combines some background in neuroscience or biology with computational skills — you don’t need to be an expert in both, but a genuine interest in bridging the two is essential.

You’d be joining a great team. Emanuele and Graham will co-supervise at CPPDS, with external input from Kim Kendall (Cardiff University, https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/kendallkm) and Francesco Mazzarotto (https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-mazzarotto-197866110/).

📄 Project details: https://bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/project-reference-TRG27-CHI-EO1
✍️ How to apply: https://bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/how-apply

⏰ Applications close Tuesday 8 December. Places for international students are capped, so home students are particularly encouraged to apply.

Questions? Email Emanuele at efo22 [at] cam.ac.uk — always happy to chat. 😊 And please share with anyone who might be a good fit!

The team has returned from the holidays – we’ve had our first meeting last Friday and welcomed a few new people to the team!

On Friday the whole group was engaged in a group meeting, with Emanuele returning from parental leave and the group welcoming two visiting medical students!

Thanks Benji for the presentation on validating a new cognitive testing app!

The nomination highlights their open-door approach, their support for early career researchers through the clinical academic training pathway, and their efforts to foster a close-knit, diverse and collaborative lab community.

Emanuele and Graham will be celebrated at a reception at Kettle’s Yard on Wednesday 13th May as part of the University’s two-week Research Culture Festival. Congratulations to them both!

We went out to celebrate the arrival of Emma and Vicent to the lab!

Emma is a postdoctoral researcher with extensive experience in electronic health records research, and Vicent is a visiting psychiatrist with a PhD, who will be with us for 3 months.

People with treatment resistant depression who are interested in taking part should visit the clinic website: https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/moodclinic where it is also possible to refer oneself.

The Early Intervention Mission has now reached 355 participants!

Last week we had a nice evening together – and even had matching T-shirts!

This was to thank everyone for their hard work this year, and wish everyone a happy New Year!