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Dr. Niamh Ryan

Research Assistant Professor (Psychiatry)
      
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Dr. Niamh Ryan

Research Assistant Professor (Psychiatry)

 ryann6@tcd.ie

 


I am a Research Assistant Professor and Principle Investigator at the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and the Dept. of Psychiatry. My research aims to explore the impact on neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders of variants in under-studied regions of the genome, such as dark (inaccessible) regions and non-protein-coding regions, by combining short- and long-read sequencing and methodological advances in a novel, pedigree-based approach. I am also interested in investigating gender differences in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. An aim of my work is to adopt a more global perspective on genetic risk variants to enhance biological understanding of these conditions, ultimately improving diagnostics and therapeutics. I have developed bioinformatics tools to improve our ability to study the effect of common and rare, protein-coding and regulatory variants (SuRFR (PMID:25400697) and PECAN (PMID: 39080331). These studies have led to a greater understanding of the types of genetic variants segregating in families and their possible functional roles in susceptibility to psychiatric illness. My work has further underscored the lack of knowledge about the effects of genetic variants, and crucially, on the limitations of some of the commonly used sequencing technologies to fully describe the variation (PMID:37468985). I have extensive teaching experience, both with Trinity and as a part-time lecturer with Maynooth University, and supervision of undergrad/postgrad student research projects at Edinburgh University and Trinity. I have 10+ years PPI and science communication experience, including organizing PPI events and scientific conferences and am a core member of the Outreach Committee for the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), a global research initiative involving 900+ scientists. I am a member of the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI) Executive Committee, the TTMI Space Committee, Chair of the TTMI Engaged Research Hub and member of the steering committee for TrinityOmics. I am the recipient of an Early Career Investigator Programme Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (2024). I have received funding for pilot projects, travel awards, summer studentships and a Research Ireland (formerly SFI-IRC) Pathway award, supporting my own research project with a PhD student (July 2025 " June 2029). Most recently I have received funding for a second PhD student through the Trinity Research Doctorate Awards (TRDAs), who will join my group in September 2026.
Helena L. Davies, Niamh Ryan, Kylie K. Reed, Natasha Berthold, Jared G. Maina, Ruth McNulty, Abigail ter Kuile, Ofure Ubah, Eva M. Trujillo-ChiVacuán, Eva C. Schulte, Jessica Yang, M. van Milligen de Wit, Estela M. Bruxel, Joseph D. Deak, Maria Koromina, Thomas Sollie, Alice Braun, Cynthia M. Bulik, Cathryn M. Lewis, Danielle M. Dick, Jerry Guintivano, Howard J. Edenberg, From Genomes to Conversations: Outreach and Engagement in Psychiatric Genetics, Behavior Genetics, 2026, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Hayley Macleod, Nadine Copty, Damien Doherty, Richard Power, Kate Ahearne, Niamh Ryan, Khalid Saeed, Ellen O"Rourke, Rehman Faryal, Luisa Weiß, Sarah Kelliher, Barry Kevane, Patricia B. Maguire, Fionnuala Ní Áinle, Increasing clinical recruitment rate to a single-site observational study: a quality improvement study, BMJ Open Quality, 14, (1), 2025, pe003091 - e003091, pe003091-e003091 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Niamh Ryan, Ruth McNulty, Grace Lutter, Helena Davies, Jerry Guintivano, T65. SUPPORTING THE TRANSLATION OF RESEARCH INTO OUTREACH: FINDINGS FROM THE PGC OUTREACH COMMITTEE QUESTIONNAIRE, European Neuropsychopharmacology, 99, 2025, p191 - 191, p191-191 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Cathal Ormond, Niamh Ryan, Juan M. Peralta, Ravindranath Duggirala, Satish Kumar, Elizabeth A. Heron, Joanne E. Curran, David C. Glahn, John Blangero, Aiden Corvin, 58. A RARE, DELETERIOUS COPY NUMBER VARIANT CO-SEGREGATING WITH MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER IN A MEXICAN-AMERICAN PEDIGREE, European Neuropsychopharmacology, 99, 2025, p84 - 84, p84-84 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Helena L. Davies, Niamh Ryan, Kylie Reed, Natasha Berthold, Jared G. Maina, Jerry Guintivano, Howard J. Edenberg, M67. STRATEGIC OUTREACH IN PSYCHIATRIC GENETICS: WHAT, WHY, AND HOW, European Neuropsychopharmacology, 99, 2025, p142 - 143, p142-143 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Niamh Ryan, Cathal Ormond, Juan M. Peralta, Ravindranath Duggirala, Satish Kumar, Elizabeth A. Heron, Joanne E. Curran, David C. Glahn, John Blangero, Aiden Corvin, M33. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM A CNV LINKAGE ANALYSIS OF A MEXICAN AMERICAN PEDIGREE COHORT, European Neuropsychopharmacology, 99, 2025, p125 - 125, p125-125 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Ormond C, Ryan NM, Byerley W, Heron EA, Corvin A, Investigating copy number variants in schizophrenia pedigrees using a new consensus pipeline called PECAN, Scientific Reports, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Ormond C, Ryan NM, Hedman A, Cannon T, Sullivan P, Gill M, Hultman CM, Heron EA, Johansson, V, and Corvin, A, Whole genome sequencing study of identical twins discordant for psychosis., Translational Psychiatry, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Ryan, N. and Ormond, C. and Brady, P. and Heron, E. and Corvin, A., Genomics of psychiatric disorders, Neurogenetics for the Practitioner, 2024, p79-94 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Cathal Ormond, Niamh Ryan, Michal "áp, William Byerley, Aiden Corvin, Elizabeth A. Heron, BICEP: Bayesian inference for rare genomic variant causality evaluation in pedigrees, Briefings in Bioinformatics, 26, (1), 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

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Niamh Ryan, Cathal Ormond, Arsalan Arsalan, Elizabeth Heron, Muhammad Ayub, Aiden Corvin, T84. RARE VARIANT ANALYSIS IN A PAIR OF PAKISTANI PEDIGREES WITH A HIGH LOAD OF PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS, European Neuropsychopharmacology, Abstracts of the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), October 10-14, 202, 2023, Poster, PUBLISHED
Cathal Ormond, Niamh Ryan, William Byerley, Elizabeth Heron, Aiden Corvin, W87. RARE, PATHOGENIC COPY NUMBER VARIANTS CO-SEGREGATE WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA IN PEDIGREE COHORT, European Neuropsychopharmacology, World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), October 10-14, 2023, 2023, Poster, PUBLISHED
C Ormond, N Ryan, W Byerley, A Corvin, E Heron, T16. A Bayesian framework to model pedigree-based causality using next-generation sequencing data, European Neuropsychopharmacology, Abstracts of the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, September 13-17, 63, 2022, ppe176 - e177, Poster, PUBLISHED
Cathal Ormond Niamh M. Ryan William Byerley Elizabeth A Heron Michael Gill Aiden Corvin, TU74. A CO-SEGREGATION ANALYSIS OF ULTRA-RARE VARIANTS IN FAMILIES MULTIPLY AFFECTED BY SCHIZOPHRENIA USING WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING, European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2021, Poster, PUBLISHED
Niamh M. Ryan Cathal Ormond Kazima Bulaeva Elizabeth A Heron Michael Gill Aiden Corvin, TH75. SEQUENCING STUDY OF A CONSANGUINEOUS PEDIGREE WITH A HIGH LOAD OF SCHIZOPHRENIA, European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2021, Poster, PUBLISHED
Cathal Ormond, Eliabeth Heron, Niamh Ryan, Viktoria Johansson, Anna Hedman, Christina Hultman, Patrick Sullivan, Michael Gill, Aiden Corvin, M16 IDENTICAL BUT NOT THE SAME - WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING OF MONOZYGOTIC TWINS DISCORDANT FOR PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS, European Neuropsychopharmacology, XXVIIth World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), Los Angeles, California, 2019, 2019, Poster, PUBLISHED
Niamh Ryan, Cathal Ormond, Yi-Chieh Chang, Carol A. Mathews, Elizabeth Heron, Michael Gill, Aiden Corvin, M60 GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF A LARGE TOURETTE SYNDROME PEDIGREE, European Neuropsychopharmacology, XXVIIth World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), Los Angeles, California, 2019, 2019, Poster, PUBLISHED
Ryan, Niamh & Ormond, Cathal & Arsalan, Arsalan & Byerley, William & Ayub, Muhammad & Matthews, Carol & Heron, Elizabeth & Gill, Michael & Corvin, Aiden., S97DETECTION OF RARE INHERITED CNVS ASSOCIATED WITH PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS FROM FAMILY WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING DATA., European Neuropsychopharmacology., 2019, Poster, PUBLISHED

  


Psychiatric genomics; pedigree studies, whole genome sequencing