Principal Investigator: Manjinder Sandhu

Manjinder Sandhu is an epidemiologist in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. He currently holds the position of University Lecturer in Epidemiology. He is also an Honorary Investigator Scientist at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge, and has close collaborative research links with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Research

Dr Sandhu's research focuses on large scale studies of the genetic (and, more generally, molecular) epidemiology of complex diseases and traits. This work includes an ongoing investigation that showed convincing statistical evidence that common variation in the WFS1 gene contribute to risk of type 2 diabetes (Nature Genetics, 2007). The study exemplifies the use of a large scale gene-centric approach to identify common risk alleles that confer modest risk of disease. This and related studies have provided the research framework to undertake Mendelian randomisation studies of complex diseases, and to fine-map genetic association signals across populations. In turn, the study of genetic variation among population groups and disease risk, including those across Europe and the Indian Subcontinent, is an active research programme.

He has used genome wide approaches as a strategy to identify novel genetic determinants of lipid metabolism, including LDL-cholesterol (Lancet, 2008). He also actively contributes to global consortia for genome wide associations studies of other quantitative traits, which include genome wide scans of height (Nature Genetics, 2008), BMI (Nature Genetics, 2008; Nature Genetics, 2009) and glucose (Nature Genetics, 2009).

More recently, he has been devising collaborative research links in developing countries—in the broader context of epidemiological transitions and public health, including in Africa.

Useful Links:

Contact Details:

Email: Dr Manjinder Sandhu

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 741404

Strangeways Research Laboratory

Wort's Causeway

Cambridge CB1 8RN

United Kingdom