Team

  • Varun Warrier

    Principal Investigator

    Varun is an Assistant Professor of Neurodevelopment at the University of Cambridge.

  • Yuanjun Gu

    PhD candidate

    Co-supervised with Simon Baron-Cohen

    Yuanjun works on understanding sex-differences in neurodevelopment and neurodevelopmental conditions using genetics. She completed an MPhil in Medical Genetics from Cambridge.

  • Yira-Xinhe Zhang

    PhD candidate

    Yira works on understanding how environmental factors are linked to mental health and neurodevelopment. She completed a BSc in Psychology from Bath.

  • Niran Okewole

    PhD candidate

    Niran is a clinical psychiatrist. He works on the impact of genetic variants on neurodevelopmental conditions and co-occurring disorders.

  • Vincent-Raphael Bourque

    Visiting researcher


    Raphael is training in clinical Psychiatry in Montreal, Canada. For his PhD, he works on the genetic and developmental predictors of cognitive ability and adaptive functioning in children with autism.

  • Qianshu Ma

    Visiting researcher

    Qianshu is training in clinical psychiatry at West China Hospital. For her MD, she works on understanding the combined impact of genetic variants and environmental factors on mental health outcomes. She holds a BMed at West China School of Clinical Medicine.

  • Ed He

    PhD candidate

    Ed is a PhD candidate. He works at the interface between functional neuroimaging and population genetics, with focus on linking imaging-derived phenotypes with neuropsychiatric disorders. Out of research he runs a blog on popular science and philosophy of science.

  • Amir Ebneabbasi

    PhD candidate

    Amir has a background in imaging transcriptomics of psychiatric disorders. He uses machine learning to investigate the genetic (polygenic risk scores) and neuroimaging (tau propagation, inflammation, synaptic density, and cellular death) hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases. Amir is a visitor and is supervised by Tim Rittman.

Team alumni

Eva-Maria Stauffer - Statistical geneticist at INSMED

Dylan McDermott - Healthcare assistant at NHS

Patrick Reed - Consultant at IQVIA

Sophie Chick - PhD candidate at Cardiff University

Vivienne Chee - Researcher at Pfizer

Alex Tsompanidis - Postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge

Bin Wan - Researcher at Max Planck Leipzig

Clara Reigis - Researcher at University of Cambridge

Bess Pearson - visiting research at University of Cambridge