Biography
I joined King’s College London in 2009 as a 1+3 MSc/PhD student, after completing my undergraduate degree in Human Sciences at University College London. In 2014, I graduated with a PhD from the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) department, where I was also awarded the Gottesman-Shields PhD Prize. In 2016, after a two-year postdoctoral training position as part of the Biomedical Research Centre, I was awarded a Medical Research Council Skills Development Fellowship.
My current work combines wet-lab experimental methods with cutting-edge population genetic methods to investigate which biological mechanisms are important in mediating risk for psychiatric disorders, such as major depression, and identifying methods to reverse these risk mechanisms (e.g. drug repositioning). Biological mechanisms of particular interest include: telomere shortening, inflammation, neurogenesis, and human endogenous retroviral expression.
I currently lead the Psychiatric Biogerontology & Translational Medicine Group, where I supervise MSc students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. I lecture on a number of MSc courses, and in particular, the Genes, Environment & Development in Psychology & Psychiatry MSc.
Research interests:
- Telomeres
- Genetics
- Biomarkers
- Neuroscience
- Cell development
Research groups:
Psychiatric Biogerontology & Translational Medicine (Powell)
Teaching:
Molecular genetics
Expertise and Public Engagement:
2017, Pint of Science: I gave a talk about stem cells and drug repositioning for depression, entitled “Highs & lows: understanding the effects of drugs”, London.
2017, BBC Radio 4: I discussed the prospect of using stem cells for drug repositioning in depression as part of the “All in the Mind” programme (goo.gl/nQpqMi).
2017, MRC Festival: I talked to school children about genetics and taught them how to extract DNA from strawberries.
2016, Genes and Tonic event: I led practical demonstrations on DNA extraction at The Accessible Genetic Consortium, which aims to make science more accessible to the public.
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Copertino, D., Rafagnin Duarte, R. R., Powell, T., de Mulder Rougvie, M. & Nixon, D., 2021, In: Journal of Medical Virology. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.26299
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Copertino, D., Casado, B., Rafagnin Duarte, R. R., Powell, T., Ormsby, C., Wilkin, T., Gulick, R., de Mulder Rougvie, M. & Nixon, D., 2021, In: Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2021.1901144
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Rafagnin Duarte, R. R., Pain, O., Furler, R. L., Nixon, D. F. & Powell, T., 16 Sep 2022, In: iScience. 25, 9, 104854. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104854
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Bhat, A., Irizar, H., Couch, A., Raval, P., Duarte, R. R. R., Dutan Polit, L., Hanger, B., Powell, T., Michael Deans, P. J., Shum, C., Nagy, R., McAlonan, G., Iyegbe, C. O., Price, J., Bramon, E., Bhattacharyya, S., Vernon, A. C. & Srivastava, D. P., Oct 2022, In: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 105, p. 82-97 16 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.06.010
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Zavos, H., Zunszain, P., Jayaweera, K., Powell, T., Chatzivasileiadou, M., Harber-Aschan, L., Adikari, A., Pannala, G., Siribaddana, S., Badini, I., Pariante, C., Hotopf, M., Sumathipala, A. & Rijsdijk, F., 3 Oct 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Affective Disorders. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Peña, E., León-Mengíbar, J., Powell, T., Caixas, A., Narcis, C. & Rosa, A., Sep 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: European Eating Disorders Review. Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Duarte, R. R. R., Copertino, D., Iñiguez, L., Marston, J., Bram, Y., Han, Y., Schwartz, R., Chen, S., Nixon, D. & Powell, T. R., 9 Sep 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Molecular Medicine. 27, 1, 1 p., 105. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1186/s10020-021-00356-6
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Palmos, A. B., Duarte, R. R. R., Smeeth, D. M., Hedges, E. C., Nixon, D. F., Thuret, S. & Powell, T. R., Dec 2021, In: Translational psychiatry. 11, 1, 555. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01695-y
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Powell, T., Hotopf, M., Hatch, S., Breen, G., Rafagnin Duarte, R. R. & Nixon, D., 7 Jun 2021, In: Clinical and Translational Immunology. 10, 6, p. 1-10 10 p., e1292. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1002/cti2.1292
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De Lucia, C., Murphy, T., Maruszak, A., Powell, T., Wright, P., Hartopp, N., De Jong, S., O'Sullivan, M., Breen, G., Price, J., Lovestone, S. & Thuret, S., 10 Apr 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Aging and Disease. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review