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
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
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, Mannikko, Minna, Marczak, Malgorzata ... Walley, Andrew (2021). Genome-wide association study identifies two novel loci associated with female stress and urgency urinary incontinence. Journal of Urology, 206 (3), 680-687.
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
2021
Conference Publication
Mendelian randomization study of maternal coffee consumption and its influence on birthweight, stillbirth and miscarriage
Brito Nunes, Caroline, Wang, Geng, Lundberg, Mischa, D’Urso, Shannon, Evans, David, Hwang, Liang-Dar and Moen, Gunn-Helen (2021). Mendelian randomization study of maternal coffee consumption and its influence on birthweight, stillbirth and miscarriage. Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) Health Symposium, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 24 - 27 August 2021.
2021
Journal Article
Ten simple rules for conducting a mendelian randomization study
Gagliano Taliun, Sarah A. and Evans, David M. (2021). Ten simple rules for conducting a mendelian randomization study. PLoS Computational Biology, 17 (8) e1009238, 1-8. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009238
2021
Other Outputs
Using adopted individuals to partition maternal genetic effects into prenatal and postnatal effects on offspring phenotypes
Hwang, Liang-Dar, Moen, Gunn-Helen and Evans, David M. (2021). Using adopted individuals to partition maternal genetic effects into prenatal and postnatal effects on offspring phenotypes. doi: 10.1101/2021.08.04.455178
2021
Journal Article
Shedding light on the genetics of fetal growth
Evans, David M. and Freathy, Rachel M. (2021). Shedding light on the genetics of fetal growth. Nature Genetics, 53 (8), 1120-1121. doi: 10.1038/s41588-021-00902-2
2021
Journal Article
The relationship between adrenocortical candidate gene expression and clinical response to hydrocortisone in patients with septic shock
Cohen, Jeremy, Blumenthal, Antje, Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel, Evans, David M., Finfer, Simon, Li, Qiang, Ljungberg, Johanna, Myburgh, John, Peach, Elizabeth, Powell, Joseph, Rajbhandari, Dorrilyn, Rhodes, Andrew, Senabouth, Anne and Venkatesh, Balasubramanian (2021). The relationship between adrenocortical candidate gene expression and clinical response to hydrocortisone in patients with septic shock. Intensive Care Medicine, 47 (9), 974-983. doi: 10.1007/s00134-021-06464-5
2021
Journal Article
Correction to: The augmented Classical Twin Design: incorporating genome‐wide identity by descent sharing into twin studies in order to model violations of the equal environments assumption
Hwang, Liang-Dar, Mitchell, Brittany L., Medland, Sarah E., Martin, Nicholas G., Neale, Michael C. and Evans, David M. (2021). Correction to: The augmented Classical Twin Design: incorporating genome‐wide identity by descent sharing into twin studies in order to model violations of the equal environments assumption. Behavior Genetics, 51 (4), 441-442. doi: 10.1007/s10519-021-10065-9
2021
Journal Article
Osteocyte transcriptome mapping identifies a molecular landscape controlling skeletal homeostasis and susceptibility to skeletal disease
Youlten, Scott E., Kemp, John P., Logan, John G., Ghirardello, Elena J., Sergio, Claudio M., Dack, Michael R. G., Guilfoyle, Siobhan E., Leitch, Victoria D., Butterfield, Natalie C., Komla-Ebri, Davide, Chai, Ryan C., Corr, Alexander P., Smith, James T., Mohanty, Sindhu T., Morris, John A., McDonald, Michelle M., Quinn, Julian M. W., McGlade, Amelia R., Bartonicek, Nenad, Jansson, Matt, Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos, Irving, Melita D., Beleza-Meireles, Ana, Rivadeneira, Fernando, Duncan, Emma, Richards, J. Brent, Adams, David J., Lelliott, Christopher J., Brink, Robert ... Croucher, Peter I. (2021). Osteocyte transcriptome mapping identifies a molecular landscape controlling skeletal homeostasis and susceptibility to skeletal disease. Nature Communications, 12 (1) 2444, 1-21. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22517-1
2021
Journal Article
Introduction to the special issue on statistical genetic methods for human complex traits
Evans, David M., Medland, Sarah E. and Prom-Wormley, Elizabeth (2021). Introduction to the special issue on statistical genetic methods for human complex traits. Behavior Genetics, 51 (3), 165-169. doi: 10.1007/s10519-021-10057-9
2021
Other Outputs
Exploring the causal effect of maternal pregnancy adiposity on offspring adiposity: Mendelian randomization using polygenic risk scores
Bond, Tom A, Richmond, Rebecca C, Karhunen, Ville, Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel, Borges, Maria Carolina, Zuber, Verena, Alves, Alexessander Couto, 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 (2021). Exploring the causal effect of maternal pregnancy adiposity on offspring adiposity: Mendelian randomization using polygenic risk scores. doi: 10.1101/2021.04.01.21251414
2021
Journal Article
Genome-wide association study of circulating interleukin 6 levels identifies novel loci
Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S., Prins, Bram P., Abdollahi, Mohammadreza, Armstrong, Nicola J., Aslibekyan, Stella, Bain, Lisa, Jefferis, Barbara, Baumert, Jens, Beekman, Marian, Ben-Shlomo, Yoav, Bis, Joshua C., Mitchell, Braxton D., de Geus, Eco, Delgado, Graciela E., Marek, Diana, Eriksson, Joel, Kajantie, Eero, Kanoni, Stavroula, Kemp, John P., Lu, Chen, Marioni, Riccardo E., McLachlan, Stela, Milaneschi, Yuri, Nolte, Ilja M., Petrelis, Alexandros M., Porcu, Eleonora, Sabater-Lleal, Maria, Naderi, Elnaz, Seppälä, Ilkka ... CHARGE Inflammation Working Group (2021). Genome-wide association study of circulating interleukin 6 levels identifies novel loci. Human Molecular Genetics, 30 (5), 393-409. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddab023
2021
Journal Article
Direct and indirect effects of maternal, paternal, and offspring genotypes: Trio-GCTA
Eilertsen, Espen Moen, Jami, Eshim Shahid, McAdams, Tom A., Hannigan, Laurie J., Havdahl, Alexandra S., Magnus, Per, Evans, David M. and Ystrom, Eivind (2021). Direct and indirect effects of maternal, paternal, and offspring genotypes: Trio-GCTA. Behavior Genetics, 51 (2), 154-161. doi: 10.1007/s10519-020-10036-6
2021
Journal Article
Genome-wide association study in almost 195,000 individuals identifies 50 previously unidentified genetic loci for eye color
Simcoe, Mark, Valdes, Ana, Liu, Fan, Furlotte, Nicholas A., Evans, David M., Hemani, Gibran, Ring, Susan M., Smith, George Davey, Duffy, David L., Zhu, Gu, Gordon, Scott D., Medland, Sarah E., Vuckovic, Dragana, Girotto, Giorgia, Sala, Cinzia, Catamo, Eulalia, Concas, Maria Pina, Brumat, Marco, Gasparini, Paolo, Toniolo, Daniela, Cocca, Massimiliano, Robino, Antonietta, Yazar, Seyhan, Hewitt, Alex, Wu, Wenting, Kraft, Peter, Hammond, Christopher J., Shi, Yuan, Chen, Yan ... the International Visible Trait Genetics Consortium (2021). Genome-wide association study in almost 195,000 individuals identifies 50 previously unidentified genetic loci for eye color. Science Advances, 7 (11) abd1239, eabd1239. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd1239
2021
Journal Article
The augmented Classical Twin Design: incorporating genome‐wide identity by descent sharing into twin studies in order to model violations of the equal environments assumption
Hwang, Liang-Dar, Mitchell, Brittany L., Medland, Sarah E., Martin, Nicholas G., Neale, Michael C. and Evans, David M. (2021). The augmented Classical Twin Design: incorporating genome‐wide identity by descent sharing into twin studies in order to model violations of the equal environments assumption. Behavior Genetics, 51 (3), 223-236. doi: 10.1007/s10519-021-10044-0
2021
Journal Article
Modeling parent-specific genetic nurture in families with missing parental genotypes: application to birthweight and BMI
Tubbs, Justin D., Hwang, Liang-Dar, Luong, Justin, Evans, David M. and Sham, Pak C. (2021). Modeling parent-specific genetic nurture in families with missing parental genotypes: application to birthweight and BMI. Behavior Genetics, 51 (3), 289-300. doi: 10.1007/s10519-020-10040-w
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor David Evans is:
- Available for supervision
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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
Multi-omic Approaches to Understanding Septic Shock
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang
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Doctor Philosophy
Multi-omic Approaches to Understanding Septic Shock
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Daniel Hwang
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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
Investigating the association between maternal and fetal HLA-KIR genotypes and offspring birth weight
Principal Advisor
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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
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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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
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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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Using genetics to investigate the interplay of maternal and fetal factors in pregnancy outcomes
Principal Advisor
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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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