![Professor David Evans](/sites/default/files/profiles/870.jpeg)
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
2018
Journal Article
ASD and schizophrenia show distinct developmental profiles in common genetic overlap with population-based social communication difficulties
St Pourcain, B., Robinson, E. B., Anttila, V., Sullivan, B. B., Maller, J., Golding, J., Skuse, D., Ring, S., Evans, D. M., Zammit, S., Fisher, S. E., Neale, B. M., Anney, R. J. L., Ripke, S., Hollegaard, M. V., Werge, T., Ronald, A., Grove, J., Hougaard, D. M., Børglum, A. D., Mortensen, P. B., Daly, M. J. and Davey Smith, G. (2018). ASD and schizophrenia show distinct developmental profiles in common genetic overlap with population-based social communication difficulties. Molecular Psychiatry, 23 (2), 263-270. doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.198
2018
Journal Article
Assessment of the genetic and clinical determinants of fracture risk: Genome wide association and mendelian randomisation study
Trajanoska, Katerina, Morris, John A., Oei, Ling, Zheng, Hou-Feng, Evans, David M., Kiel, Douglas P., Ohlsson, Claes, Richards, J. Brent and Rivadeneira, Fernando (2018). Assessment of the genetic and clinical determinants of fracture risk: Genome wide association and mendelian randomisation study. BMJ, 362 k3225, k3225. doi: 10.1136/bmj.k3225
2018
Conference Publication
The genetic architecture of hip statistical shape models suggests that endochondral bone formation makes an important contribution to hip shape
Baird, D., Evans, D. S., Gregory, J. S., Saunders, F. R., Giuraniuc, C. V., Barr, R. J., Aspden, R. M., Kamanu, F. K., Kiel, D. P., Orwoll, E. S., Cummings, S. R., Lane, N. E., Mullins, B. H., Williams, F. M., Richards, B., Wilson, S. G., Spector, T. D., Faber, B. G., Lawlor, D. A., Beck, T. J., Evans, D. M., Paternoster, L., Karasikl, D. and Tobias, J. H. (2018). The genetic architecture of hip statistical shape models suggests that endochondral bone formation makes an important contribution to hip shape. OARSI World Congress on Osteoarthritis - Promoting Clinical and Basic Research in Osteoarthritis, Liverpool, England, 26-29 April 2018. London, United Kingdom: Elsevier.
2018
Conference Publication
Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic disease
Beaumont, Robin N., Warrington, Nicole M., Horikoshi, Momoko, Day, Felix R., Ong, Ken K., McCarthy, Mark I., Perry, John R. B., Freathy, Rachel M. and Evans, David M. (2018). Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic disease. 27th Annual Meeting of the International-Genetic-Epidemiology-Society (IGES), San Diego, Ca, United States, 14-16 October 2018. Hoboken, NJ, United States: John Wiley & Sons.
2017
Journal Article
Rare variant analysis of human and rodent obesity genes in individuals with severe childhood obesity
Hendricks, Audrey E., Bochukova, Elena G., Marenne, Gaelle, Keogh, Julia M., Atanassova, Neli, Bounds, Rebecca, Wheeler, Eleanor, Mistry, Vanisha, Henning, Elana, Koerner, Antje, Muddyman, Dawn, McCarthy, Shane, Hinney, Anke, Hebebrand, Johannes, Scott, Robert A., Langenberg, Claudia, Wareham, Nick J., Surendran, Praveen, Howson, Joanna M., Butterworth, Adam S., Danesh, John, Nordestgaard, Borge G., Nielsen, Sune F., Afzal, Shoaib, Papadia, Sofia, Ashford, Sofie, Garg, Sumedha, Millhauser, Glenn L., Palomino, Rafael I. ... Yang, Jian (2017). Rare variant analysis of human and rodent obesity genes in individuals with severe childhood obesity. Scientific Reports, 7 (1) 4394, 4394.1-4394.14. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03054-8
2017
Journal Article
Recent Developments in Mendelian Randomization Studies
Zheng, Jie, Baird, Denis, Borges, Maria-Carolina, Bowden, Jack, Hemani, Gibran, Haycock, Philip, Evans, David M and Smith, George Davey (2017). Recent Developments in Mendelian Randomization Studies. Current epidemiology reports, 4 (4), 330-345. doi: 10.1007/s40471-017-0128-6
2017
Journal Article
Identification of atopic dermatitis subgroups in children from 2 longitudinal birth cohorts
Paternoster, Lavinia, Savenije, Olga E.M., Heron, Jon, Evans, David M., Vonk, Judith M., Brunekreef, Bert, Wijga, Alet H., Henderson, A. John, Koppelman, Gerard H. and Brown, Sara J. (2017). Identification of atopic dermatitis subgroups in children from 2 longitudinal birth cohorts. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 141 (3), 964-971. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2017.09.044
2017
Journal Article
Hair Cortisol in Twins: Heritability and Genetic Overlap with Psychological Variables and Stress-System Genes
Rietschel, Liz, Streit, Fabian, Zhu, Gu, McAloney, Kerrie, Frank, Josef, Couvy-Duchesne, Baptiste, Witt, Stephanie H., Binz, Tina M., Bolton, Jennifer L., Hayward, Caroline, Direk, Nese, Anderson, Anna, Huffman, Jennifer, Wilson, James F., Campbell, Harry, Rudan, Igor, Wright, Alan, Hastie, Nicholas, Wild, Sarah H., Velders, Fleur P., Hofman, Albert, Uitterlinden, Andre G., Lahti, Jari, Räikkönen, Katri, Kajantie, Eero, Widen, Elisabeth, Palotie, Aarno, Eriksson, Johan G., Kaakinen, Marika ... Rietschel, Marcella (2017). Hair Cortisol in Twins: Heritability and Genetic Overlap with Psychological Variables and Stress-System Genes. Scientific Reports, 7 (1) 15351, 15351. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11852-3
2017
Journal Article
Partitioning phenotypic variance due to parent-of-origin effects using genomic relatedness matrices
Laurin, Charles, Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel, Hemani, Gibran, Smith, George Davey, Yang, Jian and Evans, David M. (2017). Partitioning phenotypic variance due to parent-of-origin effects using genomic relatedness matrices. Behavior Genetics, 48 (1), 67-79. doi: 10.1007/s10519-017-9880-0
2017
Journal Article
Maternal and fetal genetic contribution to gestational weight gain
Warrington, N. M., Richmond, R., Fenstra, B., Myhre, R., Gaillard, R., Paternoster, L., Wang, C. A., Beaumont, R. N., Das, S., Murcia, M., Barton, S. J., Espinosa, A., Thiering, E., Atalay, M., Pitkänen, N., Ntalla, I., Jonsson, A. E., Freathy, R., Karhunen, V., Tiesler, C. M. T., Allard, C., Crawford, A., Ring, S. M., Melbye, M., Magnus, P., Rivadeneira, F., Skotte, L., Hansen, T., Marsh, J. ... Lawlor, D. A. (2017). Maternal and fetal genetic contribution to gestational weight gain. International Journal of Obesity (2005), 42 (4), 775-784. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2017.248
2017
Journal Article
Evaluation of shared genetic aetiology between osteoarthritis and bone mineral density identifies SMAD3 as a novel osteoarthritis risk locus
Hackinger, Sophie, Trajanoska, Katerina, Styrkarsdottir, Unnur, Zengini, Eleni, Steinberg, Julia, Ritchie, Graham R.S., Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos, Gilly, Arthur, Evangelou, Evangelos, Kemp, John P., Evans, David, Ingvarsson, Thorvaldur, Jonsson, Helgi, Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur, Stefansson, Kari, McCaskie, Andrew W., Brooks, Roger A., Wilkinson, Jeremy M., Rivadeneira, Fernando and Zeggini, Eleftheria (2017). Evaluation of shared genetic aetiology between osteoarthritis and bone mineral density identifies SMAD3 as a novel osteoarthritis risk locus. Human Molecular Genetics, 26 (19), 3850-3858. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddx285
2017
Journal Article
Developmental Changes Within the Genetic Architecture of Social Communication Behavior: A Multivariate Study of Genetic Variance in Unrelated Individuals
St Pourcain, Beate, Eaves, Lindon J, Ring, Susan M, Fisher, Simon E, Medland, Sarah, Evans, David M and Davey Smith, George (2017). Developmental Changes Within the Genetic Architecture of Social Communication Behavior: A Multivariate Study of Genetic Variance in Unrelated Individuals. Biological psychiatry, 83 (7), 598-606. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.09.020
2017
Journal Article
Collider scope: when selection bias can substantially influence observed associations
Munafò, Marcus R, Tilling, Kate, Taylor, Amy E, Evans, David M and Davey Smith, George (2017). Collider scope: when selection bias can substantially influence observed associations. International journal of epidemiology, 47 (1) dyx217, 226-235. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyx206
2017
Journal Article
Identification of 153 new loci associated with heel bone mineral density and functional involvement of GPC6 in osteoporosis
Kemp, John P., Morris, John A., Medina-Gomez, Carolina, Forgetta, Vincenzo, Warrington, Nicole M., Youlten, Scott E., Zheng, Jie, Gregson, Celia L., Grundberg, Elin, Trajanoska, Katerina, Logan, John G., Pollard, Andrea S., Sparkes, Penny C., Ghirardello, Elena J., Allen, Rebecca, Leitch, Victoria D., Butterfield, Natalie C., Komla-Ebri, Davide, Adoum, Anne-Tounsia, Curry, Katharine F., White, Jacqueline K., Kussy, Fiona, Greenlaw, Keelin M., Xu, Changjiang, Harvey, Nicholas C., Cooper, Cyrus, Adams, David J., Greenwood, Celia M. T., Maurano, Matthew T. ... Evans, David M. (2017). Identification of 153 new loci associated with heel bone mineral density and functional involvement of GPC6 in osteoporosis. Nature Genetics, 49 (10), 1468-1475. doi: 10.1038/ng.3949
2017
Journal Article
Back to school to protect against coronary heart disease?
Richards, J. Brent and Evans, David M. (2017). Back to school to protect against coronary heart disease?. BMJ, 358 j3849, j3849. doi: 10.1136/bmj.j3849
2017
Journal Article
Large-scale GWAS identifies multiple loci for hand grip strength providing biological insights into muscular fitness
Willems, Sara M., Wright, Daniel J., Day, Felix R., Trajanoska, Katerina, Joshi, Peter K., Morris, John A., Matteini, Amy M., Garton, Fleur C., Grarup, Niels, Oskolkov, Nikolay, Thalamuthu, Anbupalam, Mangino, Massimo, Liu, Jun, Demirkan, Ayse, Lek, Monkol, Xu, Liwen, Wang, Guan, Oldmeadow, Christopher, Gaulton, Kyle J., Lotta, Luca A., Miyamoto-Mikami, Eri, Rivas, Manuel A., White, Tom, Loh, Po-Ru, Aadahl, Mette, Amin, Najaf, Attia, John R., Austin, Krista, Benyamin, Beben ... Ohlsson, Claes (2017). Large-scale GWAS identifies multiple loci for hand grip strength providing biological insights into muscular fitness. Nature Communications, 8 (1) 16015, 16015. doi: 10.1038/ncomms16015
2017
Journal Article
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Reading Ability Show Connection to Socio-Economic Outcomes
Luciano, Michelle, Hagenaars, Saskia P. , Cox, Simon R. , Hill, William David , Davies, Gail , Harris, Sarah E. , Deary, Ian J. , Evans, David M. , Martin, Nicholas G. , Wright, Margaret J. and Bates, Timothy C. (2017). Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Reading Ability Show Connection to Socio-Economic Outcomes. Behavior Genetics, 47 (5), 469-479. doi: 10.1007/s10519-017-9859-x
2017
Journal Article
Bivariate genome-wide association meta-analysis of pediatric musculoskeletal traits reveals pleiotropic effects at the SREBF1/TOM1L2 locus
Medina-Gomez, Carolina, Kemp, John P., Dimou, Niki L., Kreiner, Eskil, Chesi, Alessandra, Zemel, Babette S., Bonnelykke, Klaus, Boer, Cindy G., Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S., Bisgaard, Hans, Evangelou, Evangelos, Heppe, Denise H. M., Bonewald, Lynda F., Gorski, Jeffrey P., Ghanbari, Mohsen, Demissie, Serkalem, Duque, Gustavo, Maurano, Matthew T., Kiel, Douglas P., Hsu, Yi-Hsiang, Van Der Eerden, Bram C. J., Ackert-Bicknell, Cheryl, Reppe, Sjur, Gautvik, Kaare M., Raastad, Truls, Karasik, David, Van De Peppel, Jeroen, Jaddoe, Vincent W. V., Uitterlinden, André G. ... Rivadeneira, Fernando (2017). Bivariate genome-wide association meta-analysis of pediatric musculoskeletal traits reveals pleiotropic effects at the SREBF1/TOM1L2 locus. Nature Communications, 8 (1) 121, 121. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00108-3
2017
Journal Article
Constructing and mobilizing "the consumer': Responsibility, consumption and the politics of sustainability
Evans, David, Welch, Daniel and Swaffield, Joanne (2017). Constructing and mobilizing "the consumer': Responsibility, consumption and the politics of sustainability. Environment and Planning A-Economy and Space, 49 (6), 1396-1412. doi: 10.1177/0308518X17694030
2017
Journal Article
Association between telomere length and risk of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases a Mendelian randomization study
Haycock, Philip C., Burgess, Stephen, Nounu, Aayah, Zheng, Jie, Okoli, George N., Bowden, Jack, Wade, Kaitlin Hazel, Timpson, Nicholas J., Evans, David M., Willeit, Peter, Aviv, Abraham, Gaunt, Tomr., Hemani, Gibran, Mangino, Massimo, Ellis, Hayley Patricia, Kurian, Kathreena M., Pooley, Karen A., Eeles, Rosalind A., Lee, Jeffrey E., Fang, Shenying, Chen, Wei V., Law, Matthew H., Bowdler, Lisa M., Iles, Mark M., Yang, Qiong, Worrall, Bradford B., Markus, Hugh Stephen, Hung, Rayjean J., Amos, Chris I. ... Smith, George Davey (2017). Association between telomere length and risk of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases a Mendelian randomization study. JAMA Oncology, 3 (5), 636-651. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.5945
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor David Evans is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact 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
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
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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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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