Gemma Sharp is a Lecturer in Molecular Epidemiology at the University of Bristol and has worked at the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit since 2013.

Prior to that, she gained a PhD at the University of Edinburgh on the genetics and epidemiology of pregnancy complications.

She also has an MSc in Reproduction and Development (University of Bristol) and a BSc in Biology (Cardiff University).

Gemma is interested in understanding what causes cleft lip/palate and associated outcomes. In particular, she is exploring the role of genetics and what genetics can tell us about environmental risk factors.

As part of this, she is researching how genes being switched on or off might cause cleft lip/palate.

This involves one of the first 'epigenetic' studies in this field, which uses lip/palate tissue and blood samples from Cleft Collective participants.

Gemma's other research interests relate to prenatal epigenetic epidemiology more generally: how a mother's genetics and lifestyle choices before and during pregnancy influence gene regulation and health of her baby.

An up-to-date list of Gemma's recent publications is available.