Professor Inês Barroso

Inês obtained her BSc (“Licenciatura”) degree in Biology from the University of Lisbon (1992), before moving to the University of Cambridge where she was awarded a PhD in Human Molecular Genetics (1996). After her PhD, she was a founding scientist at a start-up biotechnology company (Hexagen, later bought by Incyte) where she became Director of Diabetes Target Validation. In 2002, Inês moved to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute where she worked for 16 years, which included serving as Head of the Human Genetics programme for 6 years. Prior to joining the University of Exeter (Jan 2020), she spent a year at the MRC Epidemiology Unit as Director of Research, Mechanisms of Metabolic Disease.

Inês has over 20 years of experience in the field of human genetics applied to human disease. With more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, she is ranked as one of the most cited researchers in her field. Her research traverses both the monogenic and polygenic fields and focuses on the genetic aetiology and mechanisms of type 2 diabetes, obesity, rare forms of these conditions (e.g. childhood onset obesity and syndromes of insulin action), and related quantitative traits. With collaborators, she has discovered many of the genes underpinning syndromes of insulin resistance, as well as being involved in obesity gene discovery, or mouse follow-up studies. Since 2009, she has led MAGIC (Meta-Analysis of Glucose and Insulin-related traits Consortium), a consortium meta-analysing genome-wide association studies to uncover loci associated with glycaemic traits. Within the context of MAGIC, her group has identified the vast majority of established loci influencing glycaemic measures within healthy physiological range. In addition to her genetic research, Inês is undertaking further genomic, biological and physiological studies to shed light on the aetiology, mechanisms and biology of type 2 diabetes.

Qualifications:

• 2003 – MSc, Genetic Epidemiology, University of Pavia, Italy
• 1996 – PhD, Human Molecular Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK
• 1992 – BSc. (“Licenciatura”), Biology, University of Lisbon, Portugal