Contact details
Professor Tim J Aitman FMedSci
Professor of Clinical and Molecular Genetics
Institute of Clinical Science
Tel: +44 (0)20 3313 4253
Email:
Professor Timothy J Aitman
Professor Aitman is Consultant Physician in the Imperial Academic Health Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Campus, holds a chair in Clinical and Molecular Genetics at the Imperial College London and is Head of the Section of Molecular Genetics and Rheumatology. He is Strategic Theme Leader for Genetics in the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine and chairs the Imperial Molecular Pathology Group, which he co-founded with others at Imperial in 2008. Imperial Molecular Pathology won substantial funds from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to equip and refurbish a Laboratory for Molecular Pathology Research, which opened in January 2011. Professor Aitman is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Academy of Medical Sciences, and is a member of several external advisory boards including the Sir Jules Thorn Medical Advisory Committee and the editorial boards of Mammalian Genome, Physiological Genomics and BMC Bioinformatics. He was the Specialist Adviser for the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee’s Inquiry into Genomic Medicine (web link given below), and is currently a member of the Human Genetics Commission, the Government's advisory body on developments in Genetics.
Professor Aitman’s research has combined the use of classical genetics with genome technologies to investigate the genetics of common complex human disorders. These include the common syndromes of insulin resistance that predispose to diabetes and heart disease, and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus. The combined use of linkage analysis and microarray-based expression profiling led to identification of Cd36 as an insulin resistance gene in rats and humans and to defining the genetic control points for thousands of genes across the genome in a rodent model of the metabolic syndrome. More recently, genetic studies of autoimmune glomerulonephritis showed that a new type of genomic sequence variation, gene copy number variation, is a cause of autoimmune glomerulonephritis in rats and in the common human disease, systemic lupus erythematosus. These studies illustrate ways in which use of genome technologies can give insights into the molecular basis of common diseases, and have potential for translation to advancing the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of these disorders.
Professor Aitman is also Group Head of the Physiological Genomics and Medicine Group in the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, where further details of his MRC research group, including his Group’s scientific publications, can be found.
Web link for House of Lords Genomic Medicine Report: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldsctech/107/107i.pdf
Selected Publications
Journals
- Mueller M; Barros P; Witherden AS; Roberts AL; Zhang Z; Schaschl H; Yu CY; Hurles ME; et alSchaffner C; Floto RA; Game L; Steinberg KM; Wilson RK; Graves TA; Eichler EE; Cook HT; Vyse TJ; Aitman TJ. (19 Dec 2012). Genomic Pathology of SLE-Associated Copy-Number Variation at the FCGR2C/FCGR3B/FCGR2B Locus. Am J Hum Genet.
- Haubner BJ; Adamowicz-Brice M; Khadayate S; Tiefenthaler V; Metzler B; Aitman T; Penninger JM. (Dec 2012). Complete cardiac regeneration in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. Aging (Albany NY). 4:966-977. Author weblink.
- Johnson MD; Mueller M; Game L; Aitman TJ. (Jul 2012). Single nucleotide analysis of cytosine methylation by whole-genome shotgun bisulfite sequencing. Curr Protoc Mol Biol. Chapter 21:Unit21.23. Author weblink DOI.
- Simonis M; Atanur SS; Linsen S; Guryev V; Ruzius FP; Game L; Lansu N; de Bruijn E; et alvan Heesch S; Jones SJ; Pravenec M; Aitman TJ; Cuppen E. (2012). Genetic basis of transcriptome differences between the founder strains of the rat HXB/BXH recombinant inbred panel. Genome Biol. 13:r31. Author weblink DOI Open Access copy.
- Molokhia M; Fanciulli M; Petretto E; Patrick AL; McKeigue P; Roberts AL; Vyse TJ; Aitman TJ. (Jul 2011). FCGR3B copy number variation is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus risk in Afro-Caribbeans. Rheumatology (Oxford). 50:1206-1210. Author weblink DOI.
- Atanur SS; Birol I; Guryev V; Hirst M; Hummel O; Morrissey C; Behmoaras J; Fernandez-Suarez XM; et alJohnson MD; McLaren WM; Patone G; Petretto E; Plessy C; Rockland KS; Rockland C; Saar K; Zhao Y; Carninci P; Flicek P; Kurtz T; Cuppen E; Pravenec M; Hubner N; Jones SJ; Birney E; Aitman TJ. (Jun 2010). The genome sequence of the spontaneously hypertensive rat: Analysis and functional significance. Genome Res. 20:791-803. Author weblink DOI.
- Fanciulli M; Petretto E; Aitman TJ. (Mar 2010). Gene copy number variation and common human disease. Clin Genet. 77:201-213. Author weblink DOI.
- Petretto E; Sarwar R; Grieve I; Lu H; Kumaran MK; Muckett PJ; Mangion J; Schroen B; et alBenson M; Punjabi PP; Prasad SK; Pennell DJ; Kiesewetter C; Tasheva ES; Corpuz LM; Webb MD; Conrad GW; Kurtz TW; Kren V; Fischer J; Hubner N; Pinto YM; Pravenec M; Aitman TJ; Cook SA. (May 2008). Integrated genomic approaches implicate osteoglycin (Ogn) in the regulation of left ventricular mass. Nat Genet. 40:546-552. Author weblink DOI.
- Behmoaras J; Bhangal G; Smith J; McDonald K; Mutch B; Lai PC; Domin J; Game L; et alSalama A; Foxwell BM; Pusey CD; Cook HT; Aitman TJ. (1 May 2008). Jund is a determinant of macrophage activation and is associated with glomerulonephritis susceptibility. NATURE GENETICS. 40:553-559. Author weblink DOI.
- Fanciulli M; Norsworthy PJ; Petretto E; Dong R; Harper L; Kamesh L; Heward JM; Gough SC; et alde Smith A; Blakemore AI; Froguel P; Owen CJ; Pearce SH; Teixeira L; Guillevin L; Graham DS; Pusey CD; Cook HT; Vyse TJ; Aitman TJ. (Jun 2007). FCGR3B copy number variation is associated with susceptibility to systemic, but not organ-specific, autoimmunity. Nat Genet. 39:721-723. Author weblink DOI.
- Aitman TJ; Dong R; Vyse TJ; Norsworthy PJ; Johnson MD; Smith J; Mangion J; Roberton-Lowe C; et alMarshall AJ; Petretto E; Hodges MD; Bhangal G; Patel SG; Sheehan-Rooney K; Duda M; Cook PR; Evans DJ; Domin J; Flint J; Boyle JJ; Pusey CD; Cook HT. (16 Feb 2006). Copy number polymorphism in Fcgr3 predisposes to glomerulonephritis in rats and humans. Nature. 439:851-855. Author weblink DOI.
- Hubner N; Wallace CA; Zimdahl H; Petretto E; Schulz H; Maciver F; Mueller M; Hummel O; et alMonti J; Zidek V; Musilova A; Kren V; Causton H; Game L; Born G; Schmidt S; Müller A; Cook SA; Kurtz TW; Whittaker J; Pravenec M; Aitman TJ. (Mar 2005). Integrated transcriptional profiling and linkage analysis for identification of genes underlying disease. Nat Genet. 37:243-253. Author weblink DOI.
