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Oliver Pain

Dr Oliver Pain PhD

Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute

Contact details

Biography

Oliver Pain completed his BSc in Molecular Genetics followed by an MSc in Genes, Environment, and Development. He was awarded his PhD in 2017 from Birkbeck College, specialising in the genetic epidemiology of adolescent psychotic experiences. Oliver's postdoctoral journey included positions at Cardiff University and King's College London, leading to his current role as a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute since 2021.

Oliver specialises in statistical genetics, focusing on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to uncover the mechanisms underlying psychiatric and neurological conditions, including autism, antidepressant response, and motor neuron disease. His research integrates functional genomic annotations to advance understanding of disease etiology, discover new therapeutic targets, and improve genetic prediction of clinical outcomes. A significant contribution of Oliver's work is the development of publicly available software pipelines, implementing leading methodologies for reproducible research in genetics.

Research interests

  • Statistical genetics
  • Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to uncover mechanisms underlying psychiatric and neurological conditions
  • Functional genomic annotations to advance disease etiology and outcome prediction
  • Genetic methodologies

    Research

    CATHRYN TEAM Statistical Genetics SGDP 3
    The Statistical Genetics Unit

    Led by Professor Cathryn Lewis, it is a cross-school unit, comprising 20 researchers in the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre and in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics. Our aims are to develop and apply statistical methods to identify and characterise the genetic component to common, complex disorders.

    Genetics DNA
    GenoPred

    GenoPred aims to enhance the clinical utility of polygenic scores, investigating key research questions and developing best-practise tools.

    Project status: Ongoing

    News

    New software to help predict individuals' genetic risk of health conditions

    The new GenoPred pipeline enables researchers to easily calculate an individual’s likelihood of different health-related outcomes, such as disease and...

    Genetic theme

    Young adult mental health largely resilient following introduction of lockdown

    New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London and the Department of Psychology, at Royal Holloway,...

    A ‘perfect storm’ of factors increased the risk of COVID-19 in young adults following first lockdown, says new study

    Events

    06Mar

    GenoPred and GenoDisc: Reproducible workflows leveraging GWAS summary statistics for polygenic prediction and novel functional insights

    Seminar with Dr Oliver Pain

    Please note: this event has passed.

      Research

      CATHRYN TEAM Statistical Genetics SGDP 3
      The Statistical Genetics Unit

      Led by Professor Cathryn Lewis, it is a cross-school unit, comprising 20 researchers in the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre and in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics. Our aims are to develop and apply statistical methods to identify and characterise the genetic component to common, complex disorders.

      Genetics DNA
      GenoPred

      GenoPred aims to enhance the clinical utility of polygenic scores, investigating key research questions and developing best-practise tools.

      Project status: Ongoing

      News

      New software to help predict individuals' genetic risk of health conditions

      The new GenoPred pipeline enables researchers to easily calculate an individual’s likelihood of different health-related outcomes, such as disease and...

      Genetic theme

      Young adult mental health largely resilient following introduction of lockdown

      New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London and the Department of Psychology, at Royal Holloway,...

      A ‘perfect storm’ of factors increased the risk of COVID-19 in young adults following first lockdown, says new study

      Events

      06Mar

      GenoPred and GenoDisc: Reproducible workflows leveraging GWAS summary statistics for polygenic prediction and novel functional insights

      Seminar with Dr Oliver Pain

      Please note: this event has passed.