Dr Rodrigo Duarte is a Research Fellow working across the Genomic Medicine Group, led by Prof Michael Simpson, and the Psychiatric Biogerontology & Translational Medicine Group, led by Dr Timothy Powell.

Dr Duarte’s research integrates statistical genetics, transcriptomics, and machine learning to explore genome regulation in health and disease.

He uses large-scale, diverse datasets to investigate how genetic susceptibility exerts its effects across tissues, biological systems, and ancestries in a range of complex medical conditions, including neuropsychiatric disorders, infectious diseases, and skin disease. His work on how ancient viral sequences in the human genome influence neuropsychiatric disorder susceptibility was recognised with the 2024 Gershon Paper of the Year Award by the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics.

Research interests

• Complex trait genetics
• Statistical genetics
• Transposable elements
• Transcriptomics

Teaching

Dr Duarte teaches on the Developmental Psychology & Psychopathology MSc, and is a Teaching Fellow for the Applied Neuroscience MSc and the Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health MSc programmes at King’s College London.