Professor David Evans
Professor

David Evans

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 334 62617

Background

David Evans is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Statistical Genetics at the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He is a winner of the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Award.

He completed his PhD in Statistical Genetics at the University of Queensland in 2003, before undertaking a four-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford where he worked as part of the The International HapMap Consortium and co-led the analysis of four diseases within the first Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. In 2007 he moved to take up a Senior Lecturer position at the University of Bristol where he led much of the genome-wide association studies work in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In 2013 he returned to take up a chair at the University of Queensland whilst continuing to lead an MRC Programme in statistical genetics at the University of Bristol.

His research interests include the genetic mapping of complex traits and diseases (including birthweight and other perinatal traits, osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, sepsis, laterality) and the development of statistical methodologies in genetic epidemiology including approaches for gene mapping, individual risk prediction, causal modelling and dissecting the genetic architecture of complex traits. He has a particular interest in Mendelian randomization and has used it and other causal methods to investigate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)- the idea that adverse intrauterine exposures lead to increased risk of disease in later life.

He is Academic Codirector at the NIH funded International Workshop on Statistical Genetics Methods and is faculty on the European Programme in Educational Epidemiology.

He is Associate Editor at the International Journal of Epidemiology and Behavior Genetics journals.

Availability

Professor David Evans is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Biological Sciences Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Epidemiology Gene mapping Genetics Health Sciences

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Research interests

  • Mendelian randomization

  • Genome-wide association studies

  • Causal Modeling

  • Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)

  • Laterality

  • Sepsis

  • Osteoporosis

  • Ankylosing Spondylitis

Search Professor David Evans’s works on UQ eSpace

447 works between 1997 and 2024
All (447) Journal Article (366) Book Chapter (4) Conference Publication (67) Other Outputs (10)

41 - 60 of 447 works

2022

Journal Article

Mendelian randomization analysis of factors related to ovulation and reproductive function and endometrial cancer risk

D’Urso, Shannon, Arumugam, Pooja, Weider, Therese, Hwang, Liang-Dar, Bond, Tom A., Kemp, John P., Warrington, Nicole M., Evans, David M., O’Mara, Tracy A. and Moen, Gunn-Helen (2022). Mendelian randomization analysis of factors related to ovulation and reproductive function and endometrial cancer risk. BMC Medicine, 20 (1) 419, 1-17. doi: 10.1186/s12916-022-02585-w

Mendelian randomization analysis of factors related to ovulation and reproductive function and endometrial cancer risk

2022

Journal Article

Birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors: a discordant twin study in the UK Biobank

Wang, Geng, Bond, Tom A., Warrington, Nicole M. and Evans, David M. (2022). Birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors: a discordant twin study in the UK Biobank. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 14 (2) PII S2040174422000538, 1-7. doi: 10.1017/s2040174422000538

Birth weight and cardiometabolic risk factors: a discordant twin study in the UK Biobank

2022

Journal Article

Using adopted individuals to partition indirect maternal genetic effects into prenatal and postnatal effects on offspring phenotypes

Hwang, Liang-Dar, Moen, Gunn-Helen and Evans, David M. (2022). Using adopted individuals to partition indirect maternal genetic effects into prenatal and postnatal effects on offspring phenotypes. eLife, 11 e73671, 1-27. doi: 10.7554/elife.73671

Using adopted individuals to partition indirect maternal genetic effects into prenatal and postnatal effects on offspring phenotypes

2022

Journal Article

Evaluating indirect genetic effects of siblings using singletons

Howe, Laurence J., Evans, David M., Hemani, Gibran, Davey Smith, George and Davies, Neil M. (2022). Evaluating indirect genetic effects of siblings using singletons. PLOS Genetics, 18 (7) e1010247, 1-16. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010247

Evaluating indirect genetic effects of siblings using singletons

2022

Journal Article

Mendelian randomization study of maternal coffee consumption and its influence on birthweight, stillbirth, miscarriage, gestational age and pre-term birth

Brito Nunes, Caroline, Huang, Peiyuan, Wang, Geng, Lundberg, Mischa, D’Urso, Shannon, Wootton, Robyn E., Borges, Maria Carolina, Lawlor, Deborah A., Warrington, Nicole M., Evans, David M., Hwang, Liang-Dar and Moen, Gunn-Helen (2022). Mendelian randomization study of maternal coffee consumption and its influence on birthweight, stillbirth, miscarriage, gestational age and pre-term birth. International Journal of Epidemiology, 52 (1), 1-13. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyac121

Mendelian randomization study of maternal coffee consumption and its influence on birthweight, stillbirth, miscarriage, gestational age and pre-term birth

2022

Journal Article

Food geographies 'in,' 'of' and 'for' the Anthropocene: introducing the issue and main themes

Maye, Damian, Coles, Ben and Evans, David (2022). Food geographies 'in,' 'of' and 'for' the Anthropocene: introducing the issue and main themes. Geographical Journal, 188 (3), 310-317. doi: 10.1111/geoj.12456

Food geographies 'in,' 'of' and 'for' the Anthropocene: introducing the issue and main themes

2022

Journal Article

Within-sibship genome-wide association analyses decrease bias in estimates of direct genetic effects

Howe, Laurence J., Nivard, Michel G., Morris, Tim T., Hansen, Ailin F., Rasheed, Humaira, Cho, Yoonsu, Chittoor, Geetha, Ahlskog, Rafael, Lind, Penelope A., Palviainen, Teemu, van der Zee, Matthijs D., Cheesman, Rosa, Mangino, Massimo, Wang, Yunzhang, Li, Shuai, Klaric, Lucija, Ratliff, Scott M., Bielak, Lawrence F., Nygaard, Marianne, Giannelis, Alexandros, Willoughby, Emily A., Reynolds, Chandra A., Balbona, Jared V., Andreassen, Ole A., Ask, Helga, Baras, Aris, Bauer, Christopher R., Boomsma, Dorret I., Campbell, Archie ... Within Family Consortium (2022). Within-sibship genome-wide association analyses decrease bias in estimates of direct genetic effects. Nature Genetics, 54 (5), 581-592. doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01062-7

Within-sibship genome-wide association analyses decrease bias in estimates of direct genetic effects

2022

Journal Article

DNA methylation in peripheral tissues and left-handedness

Odintsova, Veronika V., Suderman, Matthew, Hagenbeek, Fiona A., Caramaschi, Doretta, Hottenga, Jouke-Jan, Pool, René, Dolan, Conor V., Ligthart, Lannie, van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E M, Willemsen, Gonneke, de Geus, Eco J C, Beck, Jeffrey J., Ehli, Erik A., Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel, Evans, David M., Medland, Sarah E., Relton, Caroline L., Boomsma, Dorret I. and van Dongen, Jenny (2022). DNA methylation in peripheral tissues and left-handedness. Scientific Reports, 12 (1) 5606, 5606. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08998-0

DNA methylation in peripheral tissues and left-handedness

2022

Journal Article

Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals

Okbay, Aysu, Wu, Yeda, Wang, Nancy, Jayashankar, Hariharan, Bennett, Michael, Nehzati, Seyed Moeen, Sidorenko, Julia, Kweon, Hyeokmoon, Goldman, Grant, Gjorgjieva, Tamara, Jiang, Yunxuan, Hicks, Barry, Tian, Chao, Hinds, David A., Ahlskog, Rafael, Magnusson, Patrik K E, Oskarsson, Sven, Hayward, Caroline, Campbell, Archie, Porteous, David J., Freese, Jeremy, Herd, Pamela, Watson, Chelsea, Jala, Jonathan, Conley, Dalton, Koellinger, Philipp D., Johannesson, Magnus, Laibson, David, Meyer, Michelle N. ... Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (2022). Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals. Nature Genetics, 54 (4), 437-449. doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01016-z

Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals

2022

Journal Article

Exploring the causal effect of maternal pregnancy adiposity on offspring adiposity: Mendelian randomisation using polygenic risk scores

Bond, Tom A., Richmond, Rebecca C., Karhunen, Ville, Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel, Borges, Maria Carolina, Zuber, Verena, Couto Alves, Alexessander, Mason, Dan, Yang, Tiffany C., Gunter, Marc J., Dehghan, Abbas, Tzoulaki, Ioanna, Sebert, Sylvain, Evans, David M., Lewin, Alex M., O’Reilly, Paul F., Lawlor, Deborah A. and Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta (2022). Exploring the causal effect of maternal pregnancy adiposity on offspring adiposity: Mendelian randomisation using polygenic risk scores. BMC Medicine, 20 (1) 34, 1-16. doi: 10.1186/s12916-021-02216-w

Exploring the causal effect of maternal pregnancy adiposity on offspring adiposity: Mendelian randomisation using polygenic risk scores

2022

Journal Article

Frequency and symptoms of intravitreal silicone oil droplets following Becton Dickinson and Norm-Ject bevacizumab injections

Miller, Chase W., Wilneff, Matt A., Wuller, Allison L., Platt, Sean M., Schartman, Jerome P., Lewis, Shawn A., Rao, Llewellyn J., Wuller, Shannon L. and Miller, David G. (2022). Frequency and symptoms of intravitreal silicone oil droplets following Becton Dickinson and Norm-Ject bevacizumab injections. Ophthalmic Surgery Lasers and Imaging Retina, 53 (2), 108-112. doi: 10.3928/23258160-20220124-03

Frequency and symptoms of intravitreal silicone oil droplets following Becton Dickinson and Norm-Ject bevacizumab injections

2022

Journal Article

Limb development genes underlie variation in human fingerprint patterns

Li, Jinxi, Glover, James D., Zhang, Haiguo, Peng, Meifang, Tan, Jingze, Mallick, Chandana Basu, Hou, Dan, Yang, Yajun, Wu, Sijie, Liu, Yu, Peng, Qianqian, Zheng, Shijie C., Crosse, Edie I., Medvinsky, Alexander, Anderson, Richard A., Brown, Helen, Yuan, Ziyu, Zhou, Shen, Xu, Yanqing, Kemp, John P., Ho, Yvonne Y.W., Loesch, Danuta Z., Wang, Lizhong, Li, Yingxiang, Tang, Senwei, Wu, Xiaoli, Walters, Robin G., Lin, Kuang, Meng, Ruogu ... Wang, Sijia (2022). Limb development genes underlie variation in human fingerprint patterns. Cell, 185 (1), 95-112.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.12.008

Limb development genes underlie variation in human fingerprint patterns

2022

Book Chapter

Integrating family-based and Mendelian randomization designs

Hwang, Liang-Dar, Davies, Neil M., Warrington, Nicole M. and Evans, David M. (2022). Integrating family-based and Mendelian randomization designs. Combining human genetics and causal inference to understand human disease and development. (pp. 137-150) edited by George Davey Smith, Rebecca Richmond and Jean-Baptiste Pingault. Cold Spring Harbor, NY, United States: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Integrating family-based and Mendelian randomization designs

2022

Journal Article

Investigating a potential causal relationship between maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and future offspring cardiometabolic health

Wang, Geng, Bhatta, Laxmi, Moen, Gunn-Helen, Hwang, Liang-Dar, Kemp, John P., Bond, Tom A., Åsvold, Bjørn Olav, Brumpton, Ben, Evans, David M. and Warrington, Nicole M. (2022). Investigating a potential causal relationship between maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and future offspring cardiometabolic health. Hypertension, 79 (1), 170-177. doi: 10.1161/hypertensionaha.121.17701

Investigating a potential causal relationship between maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and future offspring cardiometabolic health

2021

Journal Article

Fetal alleles predisposing to metabolically favourable adiposity are associated with higher birth weight

Thompson, William D., Beaumont, Robin N., Kuang, Alan, Warrington, Nicole M., Ji, Yingjie, Tyrrell, Jess, Wood, Andrew R., Scholtens, Denise, Knight, Bridget A., Evans, David M., Lowe, Bill L., Santorelli, Gillian, Azad, Raq, Mason, Dan, Hattersley, Andrew T., Frayling, Timothy M., Yaghootkar, Hanieh, Borges, Maria-Carolina, Lawlor, Deborah A. and Freathy, Rachel M. (2021). Fetal alleles predisposing to metabolically favourable adiposity are associated with higher birth weight. Human Molecular Genetics, 31 (11), 1762-1775. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddab356

Fetal alleles predisposing to metabolically favourable adiposity are associated with higher birth weight

2021

Journal Article

Healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people: an outline of the H3 project

Jackson, Peter, Cameron, Duncan, Rolfe, Stephen, Dicks, Lynn, Leake, Jonathan, Caton, Sam, Dye, Louise, Young, William, Choudhary, Sonal, Evans, David, Adolphus, Katie and Boyle, Neil (2021). Healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people: an outline of the H3 project. Nutrition Bulletin, 46 (4), 497-505. doi: 10.1111/nbu.12531

Healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people: an outline of the H3 project

2021

Journal Article

The ontological politics of freshness: qualities of food and sustainability governance

Evans, David M., Jackson, Peter, Truninger, Monica and Baptista, Joao A. (2021). The ontological politics of freshness: qualities of food and sustainability governance. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 54 (3), 461-476. doi: 10.1177/0308518X211059834

The ontological politics of freshness: qualities of food and sustainability governance

2021

Conference Publication

Using Adopted Singletons to Partition Maternal Genetic Effects into Pre- and Post-natal Effects on Offspring Phenotype

Hwang, Liang-Dar, Moen, Gunn-Helen and Evans, David M. (2021). Using Adopted Singletons to Partition Maternal Genetic Effects into Pre- and Post-natal Effects on Offspring Phenotype. NEW YORK: SPRINGER.

Using Adopted Singletons to Partition Maternal Genetic Effects into Pre- and Post-natal Effects on Offspring Phenotype

2021

Conference Publication

Methods for Enabling and Improving the Power of Mendelian Randomization Studies of Parental Environmental Exposures and Offspring Outcomes

Moen, Gunn-Helen, Bhatta, Laxmi, Asvold, Bjorn Olav, Brumpton, Ben, Warrington, Nicole M. and Evans, David M. (2021). Methods for Enabling and Improving the Power of Mendelian Randomization Studies of Parental Environmental Exposures and Offspring Outcomes. NEW YORK: SPRINGER.

Methods for Enabling and Improving the Power of Mendelian Randomization Studies of Parental Environmental Exposures and Offspring Outcomes

2021

Conference Publication

Investigating a potential causal relationship between maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and future offspring cardiometabolic health

Wang, Geng, Bhatta, Laxmi, Moen, Gunn-Helen, Hwang, Liang-Dar, Kemp, John P., Bond, Tom A., Asvold, Bjorn Olav, Brumpton, Ben, Evans, David M. and Warrington, Nicole M. (2021). Investigating a potential causal relationship between maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and future offspring cardiometabolic health. Behavior Genetics Association 51st Annual Meeting, Online (Zoom), 29 June 2021. New York, United States: Springer.

Investigating a potential causal relationship between maternal blood pressure during pregnancy and future offspring cardiometabolic health

Current funding

  • 2023 - 2027
    Developing and Applying Mendelian Randomization Methods to Facilitate Drug Discovery and Solve Intractable Problems in Medical Research
    NHMRC Investigator Grants
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2020 - 2024
    Developing and Applying Statistical Genetics Methods to Elucidate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
    NHMRC IDEAS Grants
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2022
    Identifying maternal and fetal genetic determinants of infant birthweight and their relationship to offspring cardiometabolic risk
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2024
    The role of size, shape and structure of bones and joints, in explaining common musculoskeletal diseases (Wellcome Trust Grant administered by University of Bristol)
    University of Bristol
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2022
    Developing and applying statistical genetics methods to identify genes, molecular biomarkers and environmental agents that causally affect risk of complex musculoskeletal diseases
    NHMRC Research Fellowship
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2020
    Enhancing host defence mechanisms in severe bacterial infections
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2021
    Development and application of a Mendelian randomization framework aimed at dissecting the biological basis of ankylosing spondylitis and other complex diseases
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2020
    Using Methods in Genetic Epidemiology to Elucidate the Relationship Between Viral Infection and Risk of Autoimmune Disease
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2016
    Establishing a gnotobiotic germ-free mouse facility
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2016
    A biomarker for sepsis to thwart antibiotic overuse in the intensive care unit
    Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
    Open grant
  • 2015
    Bivariate genome-wide association study of birth weight and endophenotypes related to five diseases in later life
    UWA-UQ Bilateral Research Collaboration Award
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2017
    Finding novel genetic associations in Ankylosing Spondylitis
    University of Oxford
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2018
    Gene expression profiling in critically ill patients with septic shock: The ADRENAL-GEPS Study
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2018
    Novel ways of utilizing genome-wide DNA methylation data from peripheral blood samples in genetic epidemiology
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2014
    Calibration of single channel and liquid handling robots
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2016
    Dissecting the great ophthalmic masquerade: The Global Giant Cell Arteritis Genomics Consortium (NHMRC Project Grant administered by the Centre for Eye Research Australia)
    Centre for Eye Research Australia
    Open grant
  • 2014
    Multiplex High Throughput Bio-plex Protein Assay Platform
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2018
    Clinical Researcher Training
    Research Donation Generic
    Open grant

Availability

Professor David Evans is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

  • Sometimes Correlation does Equal Causation: Developing Statistical Methods to Determine Causality Using Genetic Data

    There is a well-known mantra that correlation does not necessarily equal causation. This is why randomized controlled trials in which participants are physically randomized into treatment and placebo groups are the gold standard for assessing causality in epidemiological investigations. However, what is less appreciated is that strong evidence for causality can sometimes be obtained using observational data only. In particular, genotypes are randomly transmitted from parents to their offspring independent of the environment and other confounding factors, meaning that genotypes associated with particular traits can be used like natural “randomized controlled trials” to examine whether these traits causally affect risk of disease.

    The aim of this PhD project is to develop statistical methods to assess causality using observational data alone. The successful candidate will gain experience across a wide range of advanced statistical genetics methodologies including Mendelian randomization (a way of using genetic variants to investigate putatively causal relationships), structural equation modelling, genome-wide association analysis (GWAS), genetic restricted maximum likelihood (G-REML) analysis of genome-wide data which can be used to partition variation in phenotypes into genetic and environmental sources of variation, and instrumental variables analysis (using natural “experiments” to obtain information on causality from observational data). The candidate will apply the new statistical methods that they develop to large genetically informative datasets like the UK Biobank (500,000 individuals with genome-wide SNP data).

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Using genetics to predict drug efficacy and on-target side effects of pharmacological agents

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Glenn King, Associate Professor Sonia Shah

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Harnessing Genetically Informative Within-Family Research Designs for Deeper Insights into the Intrauterine Developmental Period and Downstream Effects on Offspring Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang, Dr Gunn-Helen Moen

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Multi-omic Approaches to Understanding Septic Shock

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Multi-omic Approaches to Understanding Septic Shock

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Developing and Applying Statistical Genetics Methods to Elucidate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Nicole Warrington

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Investigating the association between maternal and fetal HLA-KIR genotypes and offspring birth weight

    Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Understanding the genetic epidemiology of women's reproductive health

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Gunn-Helen Moen

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Using multi-omics approaches to characterise determinants of early growth trajectories and their consequences on later life health

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Honorary Professor Jake Gratten, Dr Nicole Warrington

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Professor David Evans directly for media enquiries about:

  • Genetics
  • Genome-wide association
  • Mendelian randomization
  • Twin Studies

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au