Peter Holmans Research

Dr. Holmans is head of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Unit at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University, and has over 25 years' experience in the statistical analysis of complex genetic traits, both in data analysis and developing novel genetic methodology. He has led the statistical analysis of large multicentre collaborations in genome-wide linkage of schizophrenia, and association in Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. Of particular relevance to HD and other repeat disorders, he led the pathway analysis of the two GeM genetic modifiers GWAS (2015, 2019) and also the genetic analysis of HD progression (Hensman-Moss et al. 2017b), implicating DNA repair pathways as modifiers both of age at onset and progression in HD. He has also led the pathway analyses of HD RNA-seq expression data in myeloid cells (Miller et al. 2016) and whole blood (Hensman-Moss et al. 2017a), implicating immune pathways as relevant to HD pathogenesis and uncovering shared susceptibility pathways with other neurodegenerative disorders. Currently, he is interested in discovering genetic modifiers associated with other phenotypes (particularly psychiatric) in HD. Dr. Holmans is married to Lesley Jones and they live in Cardiff with three cats He is a keen bridge player, fond of watching cricket and also a die-hard St Louis Cardinals fan.