Overview
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
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Mendelian randomization
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Genome-wide association studies
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Causal Modeling
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Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)
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Laterality
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Sepsis
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Osteoporosis
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Ankylosing Spondylitis
Works
Search Professor David Evans’s works on UQ eSpace
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
2021
Journal Article
Preoperative telephone medical clearance for ophthalmic surgeries
Miller, Alexander G., Obri, S. and Miller, David G. (2021). Preoperative telephone medical clearance for ophthalmic surgeries. Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, 47 (11), 1485-1486. doi: 10.1097/j.jcrs.0000000000000548
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.
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.
2021
Journal Article
Dnmt3a-mutated clonal hematopoiesis promotes osteoporosis
Kim, Peter Geon, Niroula, Abhishek, Shkolnik, Veronica, McConkey, Marie, Lin, Amy E., Słabicki, Mikołaj, Kemp, John P., Bick, Alexander, Gibson, Christopher J., Griffin, Gabriel, Sekar, Aswin, Brooks, Daniel J., Wong, Waihay J., Cohen, Drew N., Uddin, Md Mesbah, Shin, Wesley J., Pirruccello, James, Tsai, Jonathan M., Agrawal, Mridul, Kiel, Douglas P., Bouxsein, Mary L., Richards, J. Brent, Evans, David M., Wein, Marc N., Charles, Julia F., Jaiswal, Siddhartha, Natarajan, Pradeep and Ebert, Benjamin L. (2021). Dnmt3a-mutated clonal hematopoiesis promotes osteoporosis. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 218 (12) e20211872. doi: 10.1084/jem.20211872
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., Åsvold, Bjørn 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. American Society of Human Genetics 2021 Annual Meeting, Virtual, 18 - 22 October 2021.
2021
Journal Article
Simplicity of the automorphism groups of generalised metric spaces
Evans, David M., Hubicka, Jan, Konecny, Matej, Li, Yibei and Ziegler, Martin (2021). Simplicity of the automorphism groups of generalised metric spaces. Journal of Algebra, 584, 163-179. doi: 10.1016/j.jalgebra.2021.04.035
2021
Journal Article
Higher maternal adiposity reduces offspring birthweight if associated with a metabolically favourable profile
Thompson, William D., Beaumont, Robin N., Kuang, Alan, Warrington, Nicole M., Ji, Yingjie, Tyrrell, Jessica, Wood, Andrew R., Scholtens, Denise M., Knight, Bridget A., Evans, David M., Lowe, William L., Santorelli, Gillian, Azad, Rafaq, Mason, Dan, Hattersley, Andrew T., Frayling, Timothy M., Yaghootkar, Hanieh, Borges, Maria Carolina, Lawlor, Deborah A. and Freathy, Rachel M. (2021). Higher maternal adiposity reduces offspring birthweight if associated with a metabolically favourable profile. Diabetologia, 64 (12), 2790-2802. doi: 10.1007/s00125-021-05570-9
2021
Journal Article
Estimating direct and indirect genetic effects on offspring phenotypes using genome-wide summary results data
Warrington, Nicole M., Hwang, Liang-Dar, Nivard, Michel G. and Evans, David M. (2021). Estimating direct and indirect genetic effects on offspring phenotypes using genome-wide summary results data. Nature Communications, 12 (1) 5420, 1-12. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25723-z
2021
Journal Article
Genome-wide association study identifies two novel loci associated with female stress and urgency urinary incontinence
Cartwright, Rufus, Franklin, Larissa, Tikkinen, Kari A. O., Kalliala, Ilkka, Miotla, Pawel, Rechberger, Tomasz, Offiah, Ifeoma, McMahon, Steve, O'Reilly, Barry, Lince, Sabrina, Kluivers, Kirsten, Post, Wilke M., Poelmans, Geert, Palmer, Melody R., Wessells, Hunter, Wong, Andrew, Kuh, Diana, Kivimaki, Mika, Kumari, Meena, Mangino, Massimo, Spector, Tim, Guggenheim, Jeremy A., Lehne, Benjamin, De Silva, N. Maneka G., Evans, David M., Lawlor, Debbie, Karhunen, Ville, Männikkö, Minna, Marczak, Malgorzata ... Walley, Andrew (2021). Genome-wide association study identifies two novel loci associated with female stress and urgency urinary incontinence. The Journal of Urology, 206 (3), 679-687. doi: 10.1097/JU.0000000000001822
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor David Evans is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Available projects
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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
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Doctor Philosophy
Developing and Applying Statistical Genetics Methods to Elucidate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Nicole Warrington
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Doctor Philosophy
Understanding the genetic epidemiology of women's reproductive health
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Gunn-Helen Moen
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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
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Doctor Philosophy
Improved understanding of complex traits through intermediate pehnotypes and robust statistical genetics methodologies
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang
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Doctor Philosophy
Genetics of sensory nutrition - using genetics to understand how taste and olfactory perception influences eating behaviour and health
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Brooke Devlin, Dr Daniel Hwang
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Doctor Philosophy
Investigating the relationship between adverse perinatal environments and the development of childhood depression and anxiety using statistical genetics methods
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang
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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
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Using genetics to investigate the interplay of maternal and fetal factors in pregnancy outcomes
Principal Advisor
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2024
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
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Using Genetics to Understand the Relationship Between the Intrauterine Environment and Future Offspring Cardiometabolic Risk
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Nicole Warrington
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Detecting and Quantifying the Effect of Assortative mating and Maternal Effects on Statistical Genetics Analyses
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Nicole Warrington
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Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor David Evans directly for media enquiries about:
- Genetics
- Genome-wide association
- Mendelian randomization
- Twin Studies
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