QBI’s Dr Jian Yang was one of eight researchers and two research supervisors, working across a range of disciplines, that was recognised at UQ’s 2013 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards.
A highlight of UQ's annual Research Week, the awards – now in their 15th year – saw researchers collectively receiving more than half a million dollars in funding for their projects.
Dr Jian Yang, receives $70,000 for his project, "Quantifying the overall contribution of all the DNA variants to motor neuron disease".
Dr Yang will analyse thousands of DNA samples, and aims to develop advanced statistical methods to quantify the overall contribution of all DNA variants to MND, ultimately to provide a more precise estimate of heritability for the disease.
At the end of this project, Dr Yang's method and software tool will be made freely available to the research community for other diseases of interest.
Dr Yang is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow within the laboratory of Professor Peter Visscher, FAA.