Dr Matthew Traylor

Profile

ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6624-8621 

Matthew is a statistical geneticist with a focus on cerebrovascular disease. After completing his PhD working on the WTCCC2 Stroke Genetics study, he undertook post-doctoral research at King’s College London and University of Cambridge before joining Queen Mary University of London as a lecturer in 2019.

Dr Traylor’s research is focused on understanding the causes of cerebrovascular disease and their impact of dementia, using genetics. Through genome-wide association meta-analyses his work has identified dozens of genetic loci associated with stroke and cerebral small vessel disease.

Memberships and awards

• Member of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium

Research

Summary

As a statistical geneticist, Dr Traylor works primarily on genetic studies of cerebrovascular disease.

His work focuses on several key areas:

• Large Scale GWAS Meta-analyses of Stroke and Stroke subtypes
• Genetic studies of MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease
• Understanding the causal mechanisms leading to cerebrovascular disease and dementia
• Developing and implementing methods to tackle the challenge of stroke heterogeneity

Key Publications

• Malik R*, Chauhan G*, Traylor M*, et al. Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of 520,000 subjects identifies 32 loci associated with stroke and stroke subtypes. Nat Genet. 2018;50:524-537
• Traylor M, Malik R, Nalls MA, et al. Genetic variation at 16q24.2 is associated with small vessel stroke. Ann Neurol. 2017;81:383-394
• Traylor M, Tozer J, et al. Novel Association with PLEKHG1 in a Genome-wide Analysis of White Matter Hyperintensities in 11,226 Subjects. Neurology 2019;92:e749-757
• Rutten-Jacobs LC, Larsson SC, Malik R, Rannikmae K, Sudlow CL, Dichgans M, Markus HS, Traylor M. Genetic risk, incident stroke, and the benefits of adhering to a healthy lifestyle: cohort study of 306473 UK Biobank participants. BMJ. 2018;363:k4168.
• Larsson SC, Traylor M, Markus HS. Homocysteine and small vessel stroke: A mendelian randomization analysis. Ann Neurol. 2019;85:495-501
• Larsson SC, Traylor M, Malik R, Dichgans M, Burgess SC, Markus HS; On behalf of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP), for the CoSTREAM Consortium. Modifiable Causal Pathways in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis. BMJ 2017;359:j5375

Collaborators

Internal: Prof Mark Caulfield

External: Prof Hugh Markus (University of Cambridge); Prof Cathryn Lewis (KCL);  Dr Chris Anderson (MGH, USA);  Dr Rainer Malik (LMU Munich, Germany);  Prof Martin Dichgans (LMU Munich, Germany); Dr Susanna Larsson (Uppsala, Sweden).