Genomics Program
The Public Health Genomics Program at Monash University operates within the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and explores the role of human genetic data in public and population health. The program conducts research centred around the genetic analyses of large cohorts, clinical trials and patient registries. The Public Health Genomics Program aims to address major issues faced by the field of human genetics, such as how to effectively convert large amounts of genomic sequence data into meaningful medical information, interpret and disclose genetic information responsibly, and integrate genetic data into medical support systems.
The Public Health Genomics Program was established in 2015 by Dr Paul Lacaze on the foundation of collaborative projects made possible by the ASPREE study and ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank. These projects involve the genome sequencing of thousands of individuals and integration of deep longitudinal phenotyping and clinical outcome data. ASPREE is now part of national and international genomics initiatives including The Medical Genome Reference Bank led by the Garvan Institute and The Resilience Project led by the Icahn Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. These are projects which involve genome sequencing of thousands of individuals to explore the role of genetics in healthy ageing and disease. The Public Health Genomics Program is rapidly expanding into other projects associated with the STAREE clinical trial and Monash Clinical Registries.
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Phone: +61 3 9903 0745
Staff
Paul Lacaze PhD – Head of Public Health Genomics Program
Jane Tiller – Ethical, Legal & Social Adviser
Joanne Ryan PhD – Epigenetics and neuropsychiatric epidemiology
Steve Androulakis – Genomic and clinical data analytics, security and informatics
Head, Monash Public Health Genomics Program, Paul Lacaze
ASPREE-GENOMICS (ASPREE-G)
Professor John McNeil – ASPREE PI, Head of School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Associate Professor Robyn Woods – Executive Officer ASPREE & Director, ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank
Dr Jessica Lockery – ASPREE Medical and Data Manager
Trish Nichols – Communications
Tom Gilbert, James Phung and Emily Parker – ASPREE Biobank
Dr Carlene Britt, Dr Sharyn Fitzgerald, Dr Suzanne Orchard – ASPREE Study Managers
STAREE
Professor Sophia Zoungas – STAREE Director
Fleur O'Hare – STAREE Project Manager
MONASH CLINICAL REGISTRIES
Associate Professor Susannah Ahern – Head, Registry Sciences Unit
Geoff Sims – Australian Cystic Fibrosis Data Registry
Major projects
ASPREE clinical trial, ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank
STAREE study and clinical trial
The Medical Genome Reference Bank
Collaborating Partners
Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, Garvan Institute, Sydney, Australia
Icahn Institute for Genomics & Multiscale Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
Genetic Medicine at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
BC Platforms, Genome Data Integration Platform, Helsinki, Finland