Russell McLaughlin

Russell McLaughlin is Ussher Assistant Professor in Genome Analysis in the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin. As the lead of the Complex Trait Genomics group at TCD, Russell's research now focuses on the intersection between Population Genomics and Complex Traits, with a special focus on the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Recent research highlights include the first description of a polygenic overlap between a neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease, an in-depth exploration of Irish and Dutch population genetics and methods for exploring difficult structural variation in the genome using NGS data.

Russell obtained his BSc in Neuroscience from the University of Bristol in 2005 and his PhD in Molecular Medicine from Trinity College Dublin in 2012.

Russell's work in FutureNeuro, rooted in the Diagnostics component, is focused on understanding the overlapping roles that genetic mutations can play on risk for neurological diseases. He is especially interested in repeat expansions known to cause neurodegenerative phenotypes such as ALS and fragile X syndrome, and the pleiotropic role these may play in other conditions, including epileptic encephalopathies.