University of Oxford

Partner description

UOFX is a world leading University at the forefront of global research into a wide range of issues. The Central University is comprised of over 100 major academic departments, which are overseen by the four academic divisions: Medical Sciences; Mathematical, Phsyical and Life Sciences.

The Oxford Endometriosis CaRe Centre, directed by Professors Zondervan and Becker, is an internationally accredited centre of expertise in clinical care and research into endometriosis. The Centre’s mission is to integrate world-class evidence-based clinical care with an internationally collaborative programme of basic, clinical and translational research into endometriosis and related women’s health conditions.

Its research seeks to identify what causes this disease, to help improve our understanding of its different forms and to help inform novel drug and non-invasive biomarker discovery programmes. The Centre is part of NDWRH, with computational genetic and molecular research conducted by its members based at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics.

PARTNER

Relevant FEMaLers and their relevant output

Krina Zondervan

Bio:

Krina Zondervan (female) is Head of the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health; Professor of Reproductive & Genomic Epidemiology; and Co-Director of the Oxford Endometriosis CaRe Centre, at Oxford University.

She is also Honorary Skou Professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. Trained in biomedical sciences, classical epidemiology and genetic/molecular epidemiology, her research has focused for more than 20 years on understanding the causes of common women’s health conditions through genomic and epidemiological approaches, in order to improve diagnostic and treatment options. She has led numerous global collaborative research studies and initiatives in women’s health.

Relevant publications:

Zondervan KT, Becker CM, Missmer SA. Endometriosis. N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar 26;382(13):1244-1256.

Gallagher CS, Mäkinen N, Harris HR, Rahmioglu N, Uimari O, Cook JP, Shigesi N, Ferreira T, Velez-Edwards DR, Edwards TL, Mortlock S, Ruhioglu Z, Day F, Becker CM, Karhunen V, Martikainen H, Järvelin MR, Cantor RM, Ridker PM, Terry KL, Buring JE, Gordon SD, Medland SE, Montgomery GW, Nyholt DR, Hinds DA, Tung JY; 23andMe Research Team, Perry JRB, Lind PA, Painter JN, Martin NG, Morris AP, Chasman DI, Missmer SA, Zondervan KT*, Morton CC. Genome-wide association and epidemiological analyses reveal common genetic origins between uterine leiomyomata and endometriosis. Nat Commun. 2019;10:4857.

Zondervan KT, Becker CM, Koga K, Missmer SA, Taylor RN, Viganò P. Endometriosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2018 Jul 19;4(1):9.

Rahmioglu N, Banasik K, Christofidou P, [100+ authors], Kraft P, Nyegaard M, NyholtDR, Steinthorsdottir V, Stefansson K, Velez-Edwards DR, YurttasBeim P, Missmer SA, Montgomery GW, Morris AP, Zondervan KT. Large-scale genome-wide association meta-analysis of endometriosis reveals 13 novel loci and genetically-associated comorbidity with other pain conditions. BioRxiv pre-release, Aug 2018; analyses updated and to be submitted to Nature/Nature Genetics by Aug 2020.

Uimari O, Rahmioglu N, Nyholt DR, Vincent K, Missmer SA, Becker CM, Morris AP, Montgomery G, Zondervan KT. Genome-wide genetic analyses highlight mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Human Reproduction 2017;32:780–793

Dr Nilufer Rahmioglu

Bio:

Dr Nilufer Rahmioglu (female) is a senior postdoctoral fellow in Professor Zondervan’s group, based at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, and a visiting researcher at the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford.

With a strong epidemiological, biological, and computational background, she has extensive experience in the analysis of largest-scale longitudinal and cross-sectional phenotypic and genotypic datasets including International Endometriosis Genomics Consoritum (IEGC).