معرفی
Dr. Elaine Murray is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine at Ulster University, where she has been working since 2013. She is affiliated with the Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine and conducts research at the C-TRIC Building, Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry~Londonderry. Her work focuses on mental health research, particularly in college student populations, and she collaborates extensively with the Western Health and Social Care Trust and the Psychology Research Institute at Ulster University.
Dr. Murray earned her BSc Hons in Biomedical Sciences with a Diploma in Industrial Studies from Ulster University in 2003. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience and Behaviour at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2010, where her research demonstrated that perinatal disruption of histone acetylation leads to long-lasting changes in sexually dimorphic regions of the brain.
Dr. Murray's research primarily focuses on identifying novel biomarker panels to improve diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. She is particularly interested in the role of epigenetic modifications and sex differences in the aetiology and treatment of mental health conditions. Her current projects include the Antipsychotic Response Study, Antidepressant Response research, Analysis of Antidepressant Prescribing Patterns in Northern Ireland, and the Ulster University Student Wellbeing Study, which is part of the WHO's Mental Health International College Student Project.
Dr. Murray's extensive publication record shows a clear focus on mental health in college student populations, with particular attention to depression, suicidal behaviors, and the impact of childhood adversity. Her research employs multi-omics approaches to identify biomarkers and has increasingly incorporated microbiome analysis, particularly examining the relationship between oral microbiome variations and depression. She has established herself as a key contributor to the World Mental Health International College Student initiative, with numerous publications examining mental health patterns across international student populations.
- Vincent G. Dethier Award for Neuroscience and Behaviour Postgraduate Student of the year
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Member of the Society for Neuroscience
- Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) (2024)
- Distinguished Collaborative Education Excellence Fellowship (2023)
Dr. Murray serves as coordinator of the Stratified Medicine Industrial Liaison Committee and as timetable coordinator for BSc (Hons) Stratified Medicine. She has secured significant research funding through projects like MOOD-Dx (as Principal Investigator), PEACETIME, iMPROVE, and the Personalised Medicine Centre Multi-Omics Lab. Her work with the Ulster University Student Wellbeing Study represents a major longitudinal research effort examining risk and protective factors for mental health problems in students over five years.
Dr. Murray is actively involved in the Translational Neuroscience research group at Ulster University and collaborates with researchers across multiple disciplines. Her work on the Ulster University Student Wellbeing Study involves a large interdisciplinary team examining genetic and biological factors affecting mental health disorders and treatment efficacy. She also contributes to the Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine's efforts to develop personalized approaches to mental health treatment.
