Professor Nicholas Timpson
BA(Oxon), MSc(Oxon), PhD(Bristol), PGCHE
Expertise
The application of genetic epidemiology to the dissection of potentially causal relationships between modifiable risk factors and complex health outcomes. Best use of population-based resources to understand health and wellbeing.
Current positions
Professor of Genetic Epidemiology
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Press and media
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Biography
My research focuses on the application of genetic epidemiology to the dissection of potentially causal relationships between modifiable risk factors and complex health outcomes. My programmatic work specifically focuses on understanding body mass index (BMI) as a risk factor - using a variety of study designs and molecular phenotyping to examine pathways to disease and intervention effects. I lead work applying these methods to questions on the aetiology of cancer, cardiovascular health and the role of the environment in cardiometabolic health. I am Principal Investigator of The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac) and have become increasingly involved in the strategic deployment of population based resources in a coordinated manner to address population health. This has been most starkly demonstrated in the case of COVID_19, where through collaboration with the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, Wellcome Longitudinal Population Studies COVID-19 Questionnaire Research Group, National Core Studies (Longitudinal Health and Wealth) and NIHR/UKRI non-hospitalised longCOVID group “CONVALESCENCE”, I have helped with work providing a population-based contribution to the understanding of pandemic impact.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Understanding lived experience and behaviour during heatwaves
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
With 40°C heat becoming more and more commonplace in the UK where overheating in homes and buildings is a key risk (Climate Change Committee, 2021), understanding the lived experience of…Dates
01/10/2023 to 31/07/2024
NUTRITION-RESPONSIVENESS OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM: INTERPLAY BETWEEN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND DIET-RELATED METABOLIC DISEASES AND THE POTENTIAL FOR FOOD-BASED SOLUTIONS
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/05/2023 to 30/04/2026
LHW-NCS: Virscan
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/01/2023 to 31/03/2023
LHW-NCS COVID-19 Home Antibody Testing Study
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
19/04/2022 to 30/09/2022
The CIVIC Project: Predicting Covid-19 Impact On Vulnerable Individuals And Communities Via Health, Deprivation, And Loyalty-card Data
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
08/01/2021 to 07/01/2022
Thesis supervisions
Complex trait architecture through the lens of epigenome-wide association studies
Supervisors
Investigating Offspring Mental Health Outcomes Associated with Maternal Prenatal Alcohol Use
Supervisors
The use of genetic data in dental epidemiology to explore the causes and consequences of caries and periodontitis
Supervisors
Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms
Supervisors
What lies behind the causal impact of body mass index level and change on human health? Added value from complementary study design and deep metabolomic phenotyping.
Supervisors
Leveraging the correlation structure in DNA methylation data to identify stable and persistent regulatory networks in the human methylome
Supervisors
Using genetic data to determine the effect of routinely measured blood cell traits on disease
Supervisors
Vitamin D and head and neck cancer: A examination of causality and mechanisms.
Supervisors
Exploring the effect of adiposity on platelet function and related pathways
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
15/03/2024A genome-wide association study of neutrophil count in individuals associated to an African continental ancestry group facilitate studies of malaria pathogenesis
Human Genomics
Impact of weight loss on cancer-related proteins in serum
EBioMedicine
Inflammation proteomics datasets in the ALSPAC cohort
Wellcome Open Research
Moving from measures to mechanisms
BMJ Medicine
Prenatal urban environment and blood pressure trajectories from childhood to early adulthood
JACC Advances