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Dr Jonathan Davies

Dr Jonathan Davies

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

 RILD Building Level 3

 

University of Exeter Medical School, RILD Building, RD&E Hospital Wonford, Barrack Road, Exeter, EX2 5DW, UK

Overview

Originally from Burton-on-Trent, Jonathan studied for a BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Southampton, specialising in the theory of developmental origins of health and disease. He then moved to the University of the West of England to study for an MSc in Biomedical Sciences: Cellular Pathology, graduating in 2013, with an in-depth research project focused on triple negative breast cancer and mechanisms of metastatic initiation in peripheral tumour tissue. Jonathan subsequently worked for the At-Bristol interactive science centre (now known as "we the curious") where he co-ordinated STEM training courses for primary and secondary school science teachers to improve their scientific knowledge, whilst also participating in public engagement through science communication and volunteering in outreach projects with the local community.

Jonathan completed his PhD the University of Plymouth, Peninsula School of Dentistry, under the supervision of Dr Bing Hu, in Oral and Dental Sciences, investigating how specific cell populations within salivary gland tissue may be damaged through exposure to ionising radiation and Sjogren’s syndrome and exploring potential methods to initiate tissue regeneration using novel organoid tissue modelling techniques.

Jonathan made a side step in January 2018 into the field of epigenetics as a research technician/assistant within the group of Professor Jonathan Mill, working on an MRC project investigating regulatory genomic variation associated with schizophrenia in human neuronal nuclei. Most recently, in February 2019, Jonathan has started work as a Research Fellow on a project that hopes to establish the role of epigenetics during foetal stages of neurodevelopment as a potential cause for autism spectrum disorders. This project works on rare sample cohorts from developmental stages of human cortex, isolating neuronal cell populations to create a cell-specific, developmental trajectory of regulatory genomic phenotypes.

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences, (2008-2011, University of Southampton)
  • MSc Cellular Pathology, (2012-2013, University of the West of England)
  • PhD Oral and Dental Sciences, (2014-2019, University of Plymouth)

 

Career

2019-present, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Exeter Medical School

2018-2019, Research Assistant, University of Exeter Medical School

Links

Research

Research interests

Jonathan is interested in developmental origins of health and disease, and has undertaken successive projects that investigate this area using significantly different approaches; from using rodent models to investigate nutrient uptake across yolk sac membranes in developing conceptuses, and modelling the developmental stages of salivary gland development through the use of three-dimensional organoid tissue culture models.

Now, Jonathan is eager to expand his skills by using sequencing techniques and coding based statistical analysis pathways to characterize DNA regulation mechanisms such as DNA methylation and histone modification, in different psychiatric disorders and throughout foetal neurodevelopment. In the long term, Jonathan hopes to further investigate the functional impact of DNA modifications as a mechanism for enhancing disease risk or altering brain development pathways by taking the most significantly variable sites of interest from the regulatory genomic work, and performing confirmatory and functional analysis of the role of these genes in cell and tissue functionality.

Research projects

Current Projects:

  • Epigenomics of Schizophrenia
  • Regulatory genomic variation in the developing human brain and autism

 

 

Publications

Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year

Publications by category


Journal articles

Jeffries AR, Leung SK, Castanho I, Moore K, Davies JP, Dempster EL, Bray NJ, O‘Neill P, Tseng E, Ahmed Z, et al (In Press). Full-length transcript sequencing of human and mouse identifies widespread isoform diversity and alternative splicing in the cerebral cortex.  Abstract.
Steg LC, Shireby GL, Imm J, Davies JP, Franklin A, Flynn R, Namboori SC, Bhinge A, Jeffries AR, Burrage J, et al (In Press). Novel epigenetic clock for fetal brain development predicts prenatal age for cellular stem cell models and derived neurons.  Abstract.
Shireby GL, Davies JP, Francis PT, Burrage J, Walker EM, Neilson GWA, Dahir A, Thomas AJ, Love S, Smith RG, et al (In Press). Recalibrating the Epigenetic Clock: Implications for Assessing Biological Age in the Human Cortex.  Abstract.
Davies J, Franklin A, Walker E, Owens N, Bray N, Bamford RA, Commin G, Chioza B, Burrage J, Dempster E, et al (2022). 1. DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORIES OF DNA METHYLATION IN NEURAL CELL POPULATIONS IN HUMAN CORTEX AND LINKS TO NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 63
Bamford R, Jeffries AR, Walker E, Leung SK, Commin G, Davies JP, Dempster E, Hannon E, Mill J (2022). 67. LONG READ TRANSCRIPTOME SEQUENCING REVEALS ISOFORM DIVERSITY ACROSS HUMAN NEURODEVELOPMENT. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 63, e81-e82.
Hannon E, Davies J, Chioza B, Policicchio S, Burrage J, Commin G, Jeffries AR, Schalkwyk L, Dempster E, Mill J, et al (2022). 89. IDENTIFYING CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC EPIGENETIC VARIATION IN THE CORTEX ASSOCIATED WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 63, e93-e94.
Shireby G, Dempster EL, Policicchio S, Smith RG, Pishva E, Chioza B, Davies JP, Burrage J, Lunnon K, Seiler Vellame D, et al (2022). DNA methylation signatures of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology in the cortex are primarily driven by variation in non-neuronal cell-types. Nature Communications, 13(1). Abstract.
Leung SK, Jeffries AR, Castanho I, Jordan BT, Moore K, Davies JP, Dempster EL, Bray NJ, O’Neill P, Tseng E, et al (2021). Full-length transcript sequencing of human and mouse cerebral cortex identifies widespread isoform diversity and alternative splicing. Cell Reports, 37(7), 110022-110022.
Steg LC, Shireby GL, Imm J, Davies JP, Franklin A, Flynn R, Namboori SC, Bhinge A, Jeffries AR, Burrage J, et al (2021). Novel epigenetic clock for fetal brain development predicts prenatal age for cellular stem cell models and derived neurons. Mol Brain, 14(1). Abstract.  Author URL.
Shireby GL, Davies JP, Francis PT, Burrage J, Walker EM, Neilson GWA, Dahir A, Thomas AJ, Love S, Smith RG, et al (2020). Recalibrating the epigenetic clock: implications for assessing biological age in the human cortex. Brain, 143(12), 3763-3775. Abstract.  Author URL.

Conferences

Davies J, Franklin A, Commin G, Walker E, Policicchio S, Jeffries A, Burrage J, Chioza B, Liu J, Bray N, et al (2021). CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC PATTERNS OF DNA METHYLATION IN THE DEVELOPING HUMAN BRAIN.  Author URL.
Shireby G, Hannon E, Commin G, Burrage J, Davies J, Policicchio S, Schalkwyk L, Dempster E, Mill J (2021). LEVERAGING DNA METHYLATION QUANTITATIVE-TRAIT LOCI TO CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METHYLOMIC VARIATION, GENE EXPRESSION, AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASE.  Author URL.
Policicchio S, Davies J, Choiza B, Hannon E, Burrage J, Dempster E, Mill J (2019). MAPPING CELL-TYPE SPECIFIC MARKERS OF GENOMIC REGULATION IN THE HUMAN BRAIN.  Author URL.

Publications by year


In Press

Jeffries AR, Leung SK, Castanho I, Moore K, Davies JP, Dempster EL, Bray NJ, O‘Neill P, Tseng E, Ahmed Z, et al (In Press). Full-length transcript sequencing of human and mouse identifies widespread isoform diversity and alternative splicing in the cerebral cortex.  Abstract.
Steg LC, Shireby GL, Imm J, Davies JP, Franklin A, Flynn R, Namboori SC, Bhinge A, Jeffries AR, Burrage J, et al (In Press). Novel epigenetic clock for fetal brain development predicts prenatal age for cellular stem cell models and derived neurons.  Abstract.
Hannon E, Dempster EL, Chioza B, Davies JP, Blake GET, Burrage J, Policicchio S, Franklin A, Walker EM, Bamford RA, et al (In Press). Quantifying the proportion of different cell types in the human cortex using DNA methylation profiles.  Abstract.
Shireby GL, Davies JP, Francis PT, Burrage J, Walker EM, Neilson GWA, Dahir A, Thomas AJ, Love S, Smith RG, et al (In Press). Recalibrating the Epigenetic Clock: Implications for Assessing Biological Age in the Human Cortex.  Abstract.

2022

Davies J, Franklin A, Walker E, Owens N, Bray N, Bamford RA, Commin G, Chioza B, Burrage J, Dempster E, et al (2022). 1. DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORIES OF DNA METHYLATION IN NEURAL CELL POPULATIONS IN HUMAN CORTEX AND LINKS TO NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 63
Bamford R, Jeffries AR, Walker E, Leung SK, Commin G, Davies JP, Dempster E, Hannon E, Mill J (2022). 67. LONG READ TRANSCRIPTOME SEQUENCING REVEALS ISOFORM DIVERSITY ACROSS HUMAN NEURODEVELOPMENT. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 63, e81-e82.
Hannon E, Davies J, Chioza B, Policicchio S, Burrage J, Commin G, Jeffries AR, Schalkwyk L, Dempster E, Mill J, et al (2022). 89. IDENTIFYING CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC EPIGENETIC VARIATION IN THE CORTEX ASSOCIATED WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 63, e93-e94.
Shireby G, Dempster EL, Policicchio S, Smith RG, Pishva E, Chioza B, Davies JP, Burrage J, Lunnon K, Seiler Vellame D, et al (2022). DNA methylation signatures of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology in the cortex are primarily driven by variation in non-neuronal cell-types. Nature Communications, 13(1). Abstract.
Shireby G, Dempster E, Policicchio S, Smith RG, Pishva E, Chioza B, Davies JP, Burrage J, Lunnon K, Seiler-Vellame D, et al (2022). DNA methylation signatures of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology in the cortex are primarily driven by variation in non-neuronal cell-types.

2021

Davies J, Franklin A, Commin G, Walker E, Policicchio S, Jeffries A, Burrage J, Chioza B, Liu J, Bray N, et al (2021). CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC PATTERNS OF DNA METHYLATION IN THE DEVELOPING HUMAN BRAIN.  Author URL.
Leung SK, Jeffries AR, Castanho I, Jordan BT, Moore K, Davies JP, Dempster EL, Bray NJ, O’Neill P, Tseng E, et al (2021). Full-length transcript sequencing of human and mouse cerebral cortex identifies widespread isoform diversity and alternative splicing. Cell Reports, 37(7), 110022-110022.
Shireby G, Hannon E, Commin G, Burrage J, Davies J, Policicchio S, Schalkwyk L, Dempster E, Mill J (2021). LEVERAGING DNA METHYLATION QUANTITATIVE-TRAIT LOCI TO CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METHYLOMIC VARIATION, GENE EXPRESSION, AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASE.  Author URL.
Steg LC, Shireby GL, Imm J, Davies JP, Franklin A, Flynn R, Namboori SC, Bhinge A, Jeffries AR, Burrage J, et al (2021). Novel epigenetic clock for fetal brain development predicts prenatal age for cellular stem cell models and derived neurons. Mol Brain, 14(1). Abstract.  Author URL.

2020

Steg LC, Shireby GL, Imm J, Davies JP, Flynn R, Namboori SC, Bhinge A, Jeffries AR, Burrage J, Neilson GWA, et al (2020). Novel Epigenetic Clock for Fetal Brain Development Predicts Fetal Epigenetic Age for iPSCs and iPSC-Derived Neurons.
Shireby GL, Davies JP, Francis PT, Burrage J, Walker EM, Neilson GWA, Dahir A, Thomas AJ, Love S, Smith RG, et al (2020). Recalibrating the epigenetic clock: implications for assessing biological age in the human cortex. Brain, 143(12), 3763-3775. Abstract.  Author URL.

2019

Policicchio S, Davies J, Choiza B, Hannon E, Burrage J, Dempster E, Mill J (2019). MAPPING CELL-TYPE SPECIFIC MARKERS OF GENOMIC REGULATION IN THE HUMAN BRAIN.  Author URL.

Jon_Davies Details from cache as at 2023-09-30 04:35:01

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Teaching

Modules

2023/24

Information not currently available


Supervision / Group

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