Pippa Thomson

Dr. Pippa Thomson is a Lecturer and Psychiatric Genetics and Biology Group Leader at the Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine (CGEM) within the Institute of Genetics and Cancer at the University of Edinburgh. She has been affiliated with the university since 2000, progressing from Postdoctoral Research Associate to her current position since 2013.

Education:

• BSc in Biology from the University of Bristol (1991)
• PhD in Biology from the University of Leicester (1997)

Dr. Thomson's research focuses on understanding how DNA sequence variation affects mental illness risk through statistical, bioinformatic, and molecular approaches. Her work centers on psychiatric genetics, particularly examining depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia using linkage, association, and sequence analyses across clinical and population-based cohorts. She investigates gene-environment interactions in depression using data from Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study and conducts molecular cell biology research on candidate genes like GPR50 and DISC1.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent focus on psychiatric genetics with emphasis on genome-wide association studies, family-based research, and molecular mechanisms underlying mental illness. Recent work explores the DISC1 interactome, gene-environment interactions in depression, and rare variants associated with cognitive ability and schizophrenia.

Dr. Thomson actively teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate programs including BSc Genetics and MSc courses in Neuroscience, Translational Medicine, and Quantitative Genetics. She serves as Course Organiser for the Human Complex Traits module of the Quantitative Genetics and Genome Analysis MSc program.

Her research is supported by multiple funding sources including NIH, MRC Brain Sciences initiative, RCUK, and Chief Scientist Office. She collaborates extensively with researchers at the University of Edinburgh Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and University of Queensland Diamantina Institute.

Dr. Thomson leads the Psychiatric Genetics and Biology research group at CGEM, focusing on understanding the genetic basis of major mental illness through integrated statistical and molecular approaches.