Queensland scientist awarded $1.2 million

A University of Queensland researcher has been awarded $1.2 million to unlock the genetic underpinning of thousands of diseases, including schizophrenia, Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and cancer.

The UQ Queensland Brain Institute’s (QBI) Dr Jian Yang is one of two recipients of the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation’s Senior Medical Research Fellowship.

QBI researcher Professor Peter Visscher, who recruited Dr Yang to Australia in 2008, said the fellowship would provide $245,000 a year over five years to support Dr Yang’s work.

“Dr Yang will apply his background in genetics and statistics along with his outstanding skills in computational biology to answer fundamental questions about the genetics of common disease and to develop software tools that will analyse millions of DNA markers,” Professor Visscher said.

“This will give us a better understanding of why some people are more susceptible to disease than others.”

Dr Yang won a 2013 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award for work on identifying genetic markers for motor neuron disease, and a 2012 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize in biomedical research.

QBI Director Professor Perry Bartlett said previous Viertel Fellowship recipients had become leaders in their field of science.

QBI Deputy Director (Research) Professor Pankaj Sah was the first recipient of the Fellowship when it was launched in 1995.

Dr Jian Yang from The University of Queensland on Vimeo.

Watch a video on Dr Yang and his work here.