Prof. Dr. Jonathan Mill

Jonathan Mill heads the Psychiatric Epigenetics group at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London and from September will also be Professor of Epigenetics at Exeter University. He graduated with a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University, where he took a particular interest in cannibalism, before undertaking his PhD in molecular genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry. He was awarded a CIHR fellowship to train in epigenetics at the University of Toronto, before returning to the Institute of Psychiatry to establish the Psychiatric Epigenetics group in the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre.

His group utilizes cutting-edge methods to explore the role of epigenetic processes in complex disease phenotypes, with a particular focus on neuropsychiatric disorders. Current areas of research include: 1) genome wide investigations of DNA methylation in post-mortem brain tissue for disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism and Alzheimer’s disorder; 2) Investigating the role of epigenetic variation in mediating phenotypic/disease discordance between genetically-identical individuals (i.e. monozygotic twins, inbred animals); 3) elucidating how external environmental factors mediate long-term changes in gene expression via epigenetic alterations; 4) identifying novel imprinted regions of the genome, and their role in mediating parent-of-origin effects in psychiatric disorders; 5) exploring interactions between the epigenome and inherited DNA sequence variation, with the aim of undertaking an integrated genetic-epigenetic approach to disease; and 6) uncovering the mechanism(s) linking advanced paternal age to the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. Jon is a father of two lovely daughters, and he dislikes cows, which could be a problem in rural Switzerland.