Professor Peter Visscher
Professor

Peter Visscher

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 344 37045

Background

Visscher joined the University of Queensland in 2011, where he is Professor of Quantitative Genetics. He is a Laureate Fellow of the Australian Research Council. Visscher was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2010, a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) in 2018 and a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.

Visscher’s research is about genetic variation for complex traits (including quantitative traits and disease) in populations, with the broad aim to understand and quantify the causes and consequences of human trait variation.

Prof Peter Visscher, Prof Naomi Wray and Prof Jian Yang together comprise the Executive Team of the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG). PCTG comprises a critical mass of more than 30 post-doctoral researchers plus research assistants and students, all supported by external grant funding. Their skills lie in the ability to develop and apply statistical methods within the framework of quantitative, population and statistical genetics and to use theory to understand and predict results from data analyses. They play leading roles in the international research consortia. The focus of current research activities is in the detection and fine-mapping of loci underlying complex traits (including common disease), based upon theoretical studies and applications of methods to large datasets, in population genetics studies using theoretical approaches and high-density genetic marker data, and in systems genomics studies.

Availability

Professor Peter Visscher is:
Not available for supervision

Fields of research

Clinical sciences Genetics

Qualifications

  • Masters (Coursework) of Science, University of Edinburgh
  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh

Research impacts

Visscher's research focuses on understanding individual differences betweeen people in traits that are important for health outcomes and ageing. A better understanding of the genes that underlie variation in risk to diseases may lead to better treatments.

Search Professor Peter Visscher’s works on UQ eSpace

803 works between 1987 and 2025
All (803) Journal Article (737) Book Chapter (3) Conference Publication (63)

261 - 280 of 803 works

2017

Journal Article

Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans

Robinson, Matthew R., Kleinman, Aaron, Graff, Mariaelisa, Vinkhuyzen, Anna A. E., Couper, David, Miller, Michael B., Peyrot, Wouter J., Abdellaoui, Abdel, Zietsch, Brendan P., Nolte, Ilja M., van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V., Snieder, Harold, The LifeLines Cohort Study, Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) consortium, Medland, Sarah E., Martin, Nicholas G., Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Iacono, William G., McGue, Matt, North, Kari E., Yang, Jian and Visscher, Peter M. (2017). Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans. Nature Human Behaviour, 1 (1) 0016, 0016. doi: 10.1038/s41562-016-0016

Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans

2017

Journal Article

The genetic architecture of gene expression in peripheral blood

Lloyd-Jones, Luke R., Holloway, Alexander, McRae, Allan, Yang, Jian, Small, Kerrin, Zeng, Biao, Bakshi, Andrew, Metspalu, Andres, Dermitzakis, Manolis, Gibson, Greg, Spector, Tim, Montgomery, Grant, Esko, Tonu, Visscher, Peter M. and Powell, Joseph E. (2017). The genetic architecture of gene expression in peripheral blood. American Journal of Human Genetics, 100 (2), 228-237. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.12.008

The genetic architecture of gene expression in peripheral blood

2017

Conference Publication

GWAS of educational attainment, phase 3: prediction

Wedow, Robbee, Okbay, Aysu, Kong, Edward, Turley, Patrick, Lee, James, Zacher, Meghan, Thom, Kevin, Anh Tuan Nguyen,, Maghzian, Omeed, Linner, Richard Karlsson, Robinson, Matthew, Visscher, Peter, Cesarini, David and Benjamin, Daniel (2017). GWAS of educational attainment, phase 3: prediction. 47th Annual Meeting of the Behavior-Genetics-Association (BGA), Oslo Norway, June 28 - July 1 2017. New York, NY, United States: Springer.

GWAS of educational attainment, phase 3: prediction

2017

Conference Publication

GWAS of educational attainment, phase 3: biological findings

Lee, James, Okbay, Aysu, Wedow, Robbee, Kong, Edward, Turley, Patrick, Zacher, Meghan, Thom, Kevin, Anh Tuan Nguyen Viet,, Maghzian, Omeed, Linner, Richard Karlsson, Robinson, Matthew, Visscher, Peter, Benjamin, Daniel and Cesarini, David (2017). GWAS of educational attainment, phase 3: biological findings. 47th Annual Meeting of the Behavior-Genetics-Association (BGA), Oslo, Norway, 28 June - 1 July 2017. New York, NY, United States: Springer.

GWAS of educational attainment, phase 3: biological findings

2017

Conference Publication

Arsenic distribution and valence state variation studied by fast hierarchical length-scale morphological, compositional, and speciation imaging at Nanoscopium, Synchrotron Soleil

Somogyi, Andrea, Medjoubi, Kadda, Sancho-Tomas, Maria, Visscher, P. T., Baranton, Gil and Philippot, Pascal (2017). Arsenic distribution and valence state variation studied by fast hierarchical length-scale morphological, compositional, and speciation imaging at Nanoscopium, Synchrotron Soleil. Conference on X-Ray Nanoimaging - Instruments and Methods III, San Diego Ca, Aug 07-08, 2017. BELLINGHAM: SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING. doi: 10.1117/12.2276962

Arsenic distribution and valence state variation studied by fast hierarchical length-scale morphological, compositional, and speciation imaging at Nanoscopium, Synchrotron Soleil

2017

Conference Publication

Evidence for genetic overlap between schizophrenia and maternal age at first birth

Mehta, Divya, Tropf, Felix, Gratten, Jacob, Bacanu, Silviu, Bakshi, Andrew, Mowry, Bryan, Kendler, Kenneth, Yang, Jian, Visscher, Peter, McGrath, John, Mills, Melinda, Wray, Naomi and Lee, Sang Hong (2017). Evidence for genetic overlap between schizophrenia and maternal age at first birth. 23rd Annual World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), Toronto, ON, Canada, 16-20 October 2015. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.09.010

Evidence for genetic overlap between schizophrenia and maternal age at first birth

2017

Conference Publication

Tissue-specific sexual dimorphism in autosomal gene expression

Kassam, Irfahan, Wu, Yang, Visscher, Peter M. and McRae, Allan F. (2017). Tissue-specific sexual dimorphism in autosomal gene expression. Annual Meeting of the International-Genetic-Epidemiology-Society (IGES), Cambridge, England, 9-11 September 2017. Hoboken, NJ, United States: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/gepi.22062

Tissue-specific sexual dimorphism in autosomal gene expression

2017

Conference Publication

MTAG: multi-trait analysis of GWAS implicates novel loci for depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and subjective well-being

Walters, Raymond, Turley, Patrick, Maghzian, Omeed, Okbay, Aysu, Lee, James, Fontana, Mark, Tuan Anh Nguyen-Viet,, Furlotte, Nicholas, Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Oskarsson, Sven, Johannesson, Magnus, Visscher, Peter, Laibson, David, Cesarini, David, Neale, Benjamin and Benjamin, Daniel (2017). MTAG: multi-trait analysis of GWAS implicates novel loci for depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and subjective well-being. 47th Annual Meeting of the Behavior-Genetics-Association (BGA), Oslo, Norway, 28 June - 1 July 2017. New York, NY, United States: Springer.

MTAG: multi-trait analysis of GWAS implicates novel loci for depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and subjective well-being

2017

Conference Publication

Equivalence of LD-score regression and individual-level-data methods

de Vlaming, Ronald, Johannesson, Magnus, Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Ikram, M. Arfan and Visscher, Peter M. (2017). Equivalence of LD-score regression and individual-level-data methods. 47th Behavior Genetics Annual Meeting, Oslo, Norway, 28 June - 29 September 2017. New York, NY, United States: Springer . doi: 10.1007/s10519-017-9879-6

Equivalence of LD-score regression and individual-level-data methods

2017

Conference Publication

Fifty Years of Twin Studies On Psychiatric Traits Show That for the Majority of Traits Genetic Variation Is Mostly Additive

Posthuma, Danielle, Benyamin, Beben, de Leeuw, Christiaan, Sullivan, Patrick, van Bochoven, Arjen, Polderman, Tinca and Visscher, Peter (2017). Fifty Years of Twin Studies On Psychiatric Traits Show That for the Majority of Traits Genetic Variation Is Mostly Additive. 23rd Annual World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), Toronto Canada, 16-20 October 2015. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.

Fifty Years of Twin Studies On Psychiatric Traits Show That for the Majority of Traits Genetic Variation Is Mostly Additive

2017

Journal Article

Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia from a genome-wide study of 41,321 subjects

Marshall, Christian R., Howrigan, Daniel P., Merico, Daniele, Thiruvahindrapuram, Bhooma, Wu, Wenting, Greer, Douglas S., Antaki, Danny, Shetty, Aniket, Holmans, Peter A., Pinto, Dalila, Gujral, Madhusudan, Brandler, William M., Malhotra, Dheeraj, Wang, Zhouzhi, Fuentes Fajarado, Karin V., Maile, Michelle S., Ripke, Stephan, Agartz, Ingrid, Albus, Margot, Alexander, Madeline, Amin, Farooq, Atkins, Joshua, Bacanu, Silviu A., Belliveau, Richard A., Jr., Bergen, Sarah E., Bertalan, Marcelo, Bevilacqua, Elizabeth, Bigdeli, Tim B., Black, Donald W. ... Sebat, Jonathan (2017). Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia from a genome-wide study of 41,321 subjects. Nature Genetics, 49 (1), 27-35. doi: 10.1038/ng.3725

Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia from a genome-wide study of 41,321 subjects

2016

Journal Article

DNA methylation signatures of chronic low-grade inflammation are associated with complex diseases

Ligthart, Symen, Marzi, Carola, Aslibekyan, Stella, Mendelson, Michael M., Conneely, Karen N., Tanaka, Toshiko, Colicino, Elena, Waite, Lindsay L., Joehanes, Roby, Guan, Weihua, Brody, Jennifer A., Elks, Cathy, Marioni, Riccardo, Jhun, Min A., Agha, Golareh, Bressler, Jan, Ward-Caviness, Cavin K., Chen, Brian H., Huan, Tianxiao, Bakulski, Kelly, Salfati, Elias L., Fiorito, Giovanni, Wahl, Simone, Schramm, Katharina, Sha, Jin, Hernandez, Dena G., Just, Allan C., Smith, Jennifer A., Sotoodehnia, Nona ... Dehghan, Abbas (2016). DNA methylation signatures of chronic low-grade inflammation are associated with complex diseases. Genome Biology, 17 (1) 255, 255-255. doi: 10.1186/s13059-016-1119-5

DNA methylation signatures of chronic low-grade inflammation are associated with complex diseases

2016

Journal Article

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses (vol 48, pg 624, 2016)

Okbay, Aysu, Baselmans, Bart M. L., De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel, Turley, Patrick, Nivard, Michel G., Fontana, Mark Alan, Meddens, S. Fleur W., Linner, Richard Karlsson, Rietveld, Cornelius A., Derringer, Jaime, Gratten, Jacob, Lee, James J., Liu, Jimmy Z., de Vlaming, Ronald, Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S., Buchwald, Jadwiga, Cavadino, Alana, Frazier-Wood, Alexis C., Furlotte, Nicholas A., Garfield, Victoria, Geisel, Marie Henrike, Gonzalez, Juan R., Haitjema, Saskia, Karlsson, Robert, van der Laan, Sander W., Ladwig, Karl-Heinz, Lahti, Jari, van der Lee, Sven J., Lind, Penelope A. ... Cesarini, David (2016). Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses (vol 48, pg 624, 2016). Nature Genetics, 48 (12), 1591-1591. doi: 10.1038/ng1216-1587b

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses (vol 48, pg 624, 2016)

2016

Journal Article

Autosomal genetic control of human gene expression does not differ across the sexes

Kassam, Irfahan, Lloyd-Jones, Luke, Holloway, Alexander, Small, Kerrin S., Zeng, Biao, Bakshi, Andrew, Metspalu, Andres, Gibson, Greg, Spector, Tim D., Esko, Tonu, Montgomery, Grant W., Powell, Joseph E., Yang, Jian, Visscher, Peter M. and McRae, Allan F. (2016). Autosomal genetic control of human gene expression does not differ across the sexes. Genome Biology, 17 (1) 248, 248.1-248.10. doi: 10.1186/s13059-016-1111-0

Autosomal genetic control of human gene expression does not differ across the sexes

2016

Journal Article

A DNA methylation biomarker of alcohol consumption

Liu, C., Marioni, R. E., Hedman, K., Pfeiffer, L., Tsai, P. -C., Reynolds, L. M., Just, A. C., Duan, Q., Boer, C. G., Tanaka, T., Elks, C. E., Aslibekyan, S., Brody, J. A., Kuhnel, B., Herder, C., Almli, L. M., Zhi, D., Wang, Y., Huan, T., Yao, C., Mendelson, M. M., Joehanes, R., Liang, L., Love, S. -A., Guan, W., Shah, S., McRae, A. F., Kretschmer, A., Prokisch, H. ... Levy, D. (2016). A DNA methylation biomarker of alcohol consumption. Molecular Psychiatry, 23 (2), 422-433. doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.192

A DNA methylation biomarker of alcohol consumption

2016

Journal Article

Lack of direct evidence for natural selection at the candidate thrifty gene locus, PPARGC1A

Cadzow, Murray, Merriman, Tony R., Boocock, James, Dalbeth, Nicola, Stamp, Lisa K., Black, Michael A., Visscher, Peter M. and Wilcox, Phillip L. (2016). Lack of direct evidence for natural selection at the candidate thrifty gene locus, PPARGC1A. BMC Medical Genetics, 17 (1) 80, 80. doi: 10.1186/s12881-016-0341-z

Lack of direct evidence for natural selection at the candidate thrifty gene locus, PPARGC1A

2016

Journal Article

Endometriosis risk alleles at 1p36.12 act through inverse regulation of CDC42 and LINC00339

Powell, Joseph E., Fung, Jenny N., Shakhbazov, Konstantin, Sapkota, Yadav, Cloonan, Nicole, Hemani, Gibran, Hillman, Kristine M., Kaufmann, Susanne, Luong, Hien T., Bowdler, Lisa, Painter, Jodie N., Holdsworth-Carson, Sarah J., Visscher, Peter M., Dinger, Marcel E., Healey, Martin, Nyholt, Dale R., French, Juliet D., Edwards, Stacey L., Rogers, Peter A. W. and Montgomery, Grant W. (2016). Endometriosis risk alleles at 1p36.12 act through inverse regulation of CDC42 and LINC00339. Human Molecular Genetics, 25 (22), 5046-5058. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddw320

Endometriosis risk alleles at 1p36.12 act through inverse regulation of CDC42 and LINC00339

2016

Journal Article

Leveraging genetically simple traits to identify small-effect variants for complex phenotypes

Kemper, K. E., Littlejohn, M. D., Lopdell, T., Hayes, B. J., Bennett, L. E., Williams, R. P., Xu, X. Q., Visscher, P. M., Carrick, M. J. and Goddard, M. E. (2016). Leveraging genetically simple traits to identify small-effect variants for complex phenotypes. BMC Genomics, 17 (1) 858, 858. doi: 10.1186/s12864-016-3175-3

Leveraging genetically simple traits to identify small-effect variants for complex phenotypes

2016

Journal Article

No reliable association between runs of homozygosity and schizophrenia in a well-powered replication study

Johnson, Emma C., Bjelland, Douglas W., Howrigan, Daniel P., Abdellaoui, Abdel, Breen, Gerome, Borglum, Anders, Cichon, Sven, Degenhardt, Franziska, Forstner, Andreas J., Frank, Josef, Genovese, Giulio, Heilmann-Heimbach, Stefanie, Herms, Stefan, Hoffman, Per, Maier, Wolfgang, Mattheisen, Manuel, Morris, Derek, Mowry, Bryan, Muller-Mhysok, Betram, Neale, Benjamin, Nenadic, Igor, Nothen, Markus M., O'Dushlaine, Colm, Rietschel, Marcella, Ruderfer, Douglas M., Rujescu, Dan, Schulze, Thomas G., Simonson, Matthew A., Stahl, Eli ... Keller, Matthew C. (2016). No reliable association between runs of homozygosity and schizophrenia in a well-powered replication study. PLoS Genetics, 12 (10) e1006343, e1006343. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006343

No reliable association between runs of homozygosity and schizophrenia in a well-powered replication study

2016

Journal Article

Evidence for mitochondrial genetic control of autosomal gene expression

Kassam, Irfahan, Qi, Tuan, Lloyd-Jones, Luke, Holloway, Alexander, Bonder, Marc Jan, Henders, Anjali K., Martin, Nicholas G., Powell, Joseph E., Franke, Lude, Montgomery, Grant W., Visscher, Peter M. and McRae, Allan F. (2016). Evidence for mitochondrial genetic control of autosomal gene expression. Human Molecular Genetics, 25 (24), 5332-5338. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddw347

Evidence for mitochondrial genetic control of autosomal gene expression

Current funding

  • 2019 - 2025
    Causes and consequence of human trait variation
    ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2022 - 2025
    Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2024
    Estimating the genetic and environmental architecture of psychiatric disorders (NIH Grant administered by the University of Colorado)
    University of Colorado
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2023
    Complex trait genomics
    NHMRC Program Grant
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2019
    Genetic analysis of the relationship between parental age and risk of psychiatric disorders
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2019
    Phenotypic profiling from DNA using genetic and epigenetic information
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2018
    The genetics of ageing in human populations
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2019
    Sporadic ALS Australian Systems Genomics Consortium (SALSA-SGC)
    Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia Inc
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2020
    Analysis of Genome-Wide Data in the Health and Retirement Study (NIH grant administered by the University of Southern California)
    University of Southern California
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2019
    1/2 A Large-Scale Schizophrenia Association Study in Sweden (NIH grant administered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
    University of North Carolina
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2017
    Increasing the power of GxE detection by using multi-locus genome-wide predictors (NIH grant administered by Harvard Medical School)
    Harvard Medical School
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2019
    NHMRC Research Fellowship: Neurogenetics and Statistical Genomics
    NHMRC Research Fellowship
    Open grant
  • 2014
    Deciphering the genetic code of diseases
    National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2014
    Trans-ethnic and trans-omic statistical analyses to identify new ALS risk variants
    Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia Inc
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2018
    Estimating the Frequencies and Population Specificities of Risk Alleles (NIH grant administered by the University of Colorado)
    University of Colorado
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2016
    CAGE: Consortium for the Architecture of Gene Expression
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2015
    Estimation and partitioning of the still-missing heritability for complex disease
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2016
    Estimation of non-additive genetic variance for complex traits using genome-wide SNP and sequence data
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2016
    Exploiting SNP data in epidemiology and genetics through multivariate analysis of complex traits
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2015
    The genetic architecture and evolution of quantitative traits (ARC Discovery Project administered by the University of Melbourne)
    University of Melbourne
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2018
    Statistical and Quantitative Genetics (NIH Grant administered by the University of Washington)
    University of Washington (Seattle)
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2017
    Statistical genetic analyses of social and economic outcomes
    Stockholm School of Economics
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2017
    Belgian Medical Genomics Initiative (BeMGI)
    University of Liege
    Open grant
  • 2012
    Explaining the Dark Matter of Genome-wide Association Studies for Complex Disease
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2014
    Better Methods for Individual Risk Prediction of Complex Traits in Human Populations
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2014
    NHMRC Research Fellowship (SPRF)
    NHMRC Research Fellowship
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2017
    Theoretical Population Genetics (NIH Subcontract administered by the University of Washington)
    University of Washington (Seattle)
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2013
    Identifying eQTLs and endophenotyping known CNVs in a large Australian schizophrenia sample
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    Why is most of the genetic variance for complex traits undetected by large powerful screens of common variants? (ARC Discovery Project administered by The University of Melbourne)
    University of Melbourne
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2009
    Maximising knowledge from dense SNP data using multi-locus analysis
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Peter Visscher is:
Not available for supervision

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Statistical methods and application to analyses genome and trait data from large biobanks

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Kathryn Kemper, Professor Loic Yengo

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations in humans

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Naomi Wray, Dr Fleur Garton, Dr Jian Zeng

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Integrating GWAS and molecular QTL data to dissect genetic architecture and improve polygenic prediction

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jian Zeng

Completed supervision

Enquiries

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