Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR)


http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au

Dr Bharti Morar

Bharti Morar

Bharti completed her post-graduate qualifications in the field of human genetics (disease and population genetics) in South Africa in 2000 in the department of the world-renowned geneticist Prof Trefor Jenkins. She then joined Luba Kalaydjieva, then based at Edith Cowan University, as a postdoctoral fellow to work on a project looking at the genetic history and population structure of the European Roma (Gypsies) using autosomal, Y chromosome and mtDNA variation.

A challenging change in research focus began when she joined the Neuropsychiatry Genetics Laboratory of Prof Dieter Wildenauer and A/Prof Sibylle Schwab to look at schizophrenia susceptibility genes in the MHC. Her current work includes other candidate regions/genes implicated in schizophrenia susceptibility.

Qualifications

1983BSc (Hons) - University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Project Title: "1-Antitrypsin variation in various southern African populations"
1994MSc - University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Project Title: "Gaucher disease: Detection of genetic heterogeneity at gene level"
2000PhD - University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Thesis Title: "An exploration of the origins of the Malagasy using genetic polymorphisms"

Research Interests

  • Molecular genetics of schizophrenia.
  • Population genetics.
  • Molecular anthropology.

Scientific Involvement

  • Human Genetics Society of Australasia - Member.

Major Grants Awarded

  • The Medical Faculty Research Endowment Fund, University of the Witwatersrand, 2000.
  • The SAIMR Research and Development Fund, The South African Institute for Medical Research, 2000.

Top 10 Publications

  1. Morar B, Schwab SG, Albus M, Maier W, Lerer B, Wildenauer DB. 2007. Evaluation of association of SNPs in the TNF alpha gene region with schizophrenia. American Journal of Medical Genetics: Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics 144(3):318-24. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  2. Kalaydjieva L, Morar B, Chaix R, Tang H. 2005. A newly discovered founder population: the Roma/Gypsies. BioEssays, 27(10):1084-94. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  3. Morar B, Gresham D, Angelicheva D, Tournev I, Gooding R, Guergueltcheva V, Schmidt C, Abicht A, Lochmüller H, Tordai A, Kalmár L, Nagy M, Karcagi V, Jeanpierre M, Herczegfalvi A, Beeson D, Viswanathan V, Carter KW, Reeve J, de Pablo R, Kuncinskas V, Kalaydjieva L. 2004. Mutation History of the Roma/Gypsies. American Journal of Human Genetics 75(4):596-609. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  4. Zhivotovsky L, Underhill PA, Cinnioglu C, Kayser M, Morar B, Kivisild T, Scozzari R, Cruciani F, Destro-Bisol G, Spedini G, Chambers GK, Herrera RJ, Yong KK, Gresham D, Tournev I, Feldman MW, Kalaydjieva L. 2004. The effective mutation rate at Y chromosome short tandem repeats, with application to human population-divergence time. American Journal of Human Genetics 74(1):50-61. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  5. Varon R, Gooding R, Steglich C, Marns L, Tang H, Angelicheva D, Yong KK, Ambrugger P, Reinhold A, Morar B, Baas F, Kwa M, Tournev I, Guerguelcheva V, Kremensky I, Lochmüller H, Müllner-Eidenböck A, Merlini L, Neumann L, Bürger J, Walter M, Swoboda K, Thomas PK, von Moers A, Risch N, Kalaydjieva L. 2003. Partial deficiency of the C-terminal domain phosphatase of RNA polymerase II is associated with congenital cataracts facial dysmorphism neuropathy syndrome. Nature Genetics 35(2):185-189. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  6. Lane AB, Soodyall H, Arndt S, Ratshikhopha ME, Jonker E, Freeman C, Young L, Morar B, Toffie L. 2002. Genetic substructure in South African Bantu-speakers: evidence from autosomal DNA and Y-chromosome studies. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 119(2):175-85. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  7. Pakendorf B, Morar B, Tarskaia LA, Kayser M, Soodyall H, Rodewald A, Stoneking M. 2002. Y-chromosomal evidence for a strong reduction in male population size of Yakuts. Human Genetics 110(2):198-200. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  8. Gresham D, Morar B, Underhill PA, Passarino G, Lin AA, Wise C, Angelicheva D, Calafell F, Oefner PJ, Shen P, Tournev I, de Pablo R, Kucinskas V, Perez-Lezaun A, Marushiakova E, Popov V, Kalaydjieva L. 2001. Origins and divergence of the Roma (Gypsies). American Journal of Human Genetics 69(6):1314-31. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  9. Kidd KK, Morar B, Castiglione CM, Zhao H, Pakstis AJ, Speed WC, Bonne-Tamir B, Lu RB, Goldman D, Lee C, Nam YS, Grandy DK, Jenkins T, Kidd JR. 1998. A global survey of haplotype frequencies and linkage disequilibrium at the DRD2 locus. Human Genetics 103(2):211-27. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
  10. Morar B, Lane AB. 1996. The molecular characterization of Gaucher disease in South Africa. Clinical Genetics 50(2):78-84. [NCBI PubMed Entry]