Brittany Mitchell
Dr | Postdoctoral Research Officer
+61 7 3362 0245Brittany.Mitchell@qimrberghofer.edu.au
CAREER HISTORY
Brittany graduated from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) with an MSc in Genetics in 2016. After receiving a highly competitive international research scholarship from the Queensland University of Technology, Brittany moved to Australia in 2018 to commence a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Nicholas Martin in the Genetic Epidemiology lab at QIMR Berghofer. Her work was focused on identifying and understanding genetic and environmental influences on neuropsychological traits including depression, cognitive ability and Alzheimer’s disease. Since completing her PhD, Brittany has joined the Psychiatric Genetics lab at QIMR Berghofer, under the supervision of Prof Sarah Medland.
CURRENT APPOINTMENT
- 2021-Current: Postdoctoral research officer, QIMR Berghofer
ORCID NUMBER
RESEARCHER ID
CURRENT AREA OF RESEARCH
- Major depressive disorder
- Dementia
- Psychiatric genetics
- Neuroscience
- Statistical genetics
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
- Mitchell, B.L.,et al. (2021). Polygenic Risk Scores Derived From Varying Definitions of Depression and Risk of Depression JAMA Psychiatry. PMID: 34379077
- Mitchell, B.L., et al. (2021), The Australian Genetics of Depression Study: new risk loci and dissecting heterogeneity between subtypes. Biological Psychiatry 2021.
- Mitchell BL, et al. (2020). Exploring the genetic relationship between hearing impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring. 2020;e12108. PMID: 33005726
- Mitchell BL., et al. (2020) Educational attainment polygenic scores are associated with cortical total surface area and regions important for language and memory. NeuroImage. 2020:116691. PMID: 32126298
- Revez JA, Lin T, Qiao Z, Xue A, Holtz Y, Zhu Z, …, Mitchell BL, et al. (2020) Genome-wide association study identifies 143 loci associated with 25 hydroxyvitamin D concentration. Nature communications 11(1):1-12. PMID: 32242144
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
- 2021-Current: Australian Society for Mental Health Research
- 2021-Current: International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment
- 2019- Current: International Society of Psychiatric Genetics
- 2018- Current: Behaviour Genetics Association
SCIENTIFIC SERVICE
- 2021-current: Postdoctoral Committee at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Representative.
- 2021-current: Member of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Mental Health Education Committee
- 2019-2020: Seminar Convener for Early-Career Research Seminar Series
- 2018-current: Science Ambassador for QIMR Berghofer
AWARDS RECOGNITION
- 2021 SAGE Higher Degree Research Publication Prize: Best publication in QUT Faculty of Health.
- 2020 CSL Florey Next Generation Award , QIMR Institute nominee.
- 2019 SAGE Higher Degree Research Publication Prize: runner up.
- 2019 Best oral presentation, QIMR Berghofer student retreat.
- 2019 Best oral presentation: runner up, Queensland University of Technology postgraduate Symposium.
- 2019 Travel Award, Behavior Genetic Association.
- 2019 Finalist for Fulker award for top publication, Behavior Genetic Association.
- 2018 Travel award, Twin Research Australia.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
- 2021: PhD Thesis ‘Statistical Genetic Analyses of Neuropsychological Traits.’ QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and Queensland University of Technology. Supervised by Professor Nicholas Martin, Dr. Miguel Renteria, Dr Katrina Grasby and A/Prof Dale Nyholt.
- 2016: M.Sc. Genetics. University of Pretoria, South Africa
- 2013: B.Sc.(Hons) Genetics, cum laude. University of Pretoria, South Africa
- 2012: B.Sc. Medical Science. University of Pretoria, South Africa
- 2017: GoldenKey Honours Society for top Academic Achievers in the year 2016
- 2014-2017: Academic Honorary Colours , University of Pretoria.