Dr Susan Ring
B.Sc.(Sheff.), Ph.D.(Lond.)
Expertise
I have extensive experience of managing biosample and genetic resources for population cohort studies. This includes governance, laboratory management, sample collection and analysis, biobanking and Human Tissue Act compliance.
Current positions
Director of Bristol Bioresource Laboratories
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
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Biography
I am Director of the Bristol Bioresource Laboratories (BBL) and Executive Director (Bioresource) of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and a biobanking expert. I have over 25 years of experience of managing sample resources for epidemiological studies.
I established the DNA and lymphoblastoid cell line banks for the ALSPAC and 1958 National Child Development birth cohort studies which have been widely used by the research community across the world and this lead to the development of the Bristol Bioresource Laboratories (https://www.bristol.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/research/groups/bblabs/)
BBL supports a large proportion of research in ALSPAC and Population Health Science at the University of Bristol. The laboratories are custodians of over 2 million samples from several cohort studies including ALSPAC, the 1946, 1958 1970, Millennium and Born in Bradford birth cohorts and clinical collections such as the Cleft Collective and Head and Neck 5000. The laboratories also provide a DNA extraction and genotyping service.
Research Governance and HTA compliance is an important part of my role. I have been a Human Tissue Authority Designated Individual (HTA DI) since 2006 and am currently chair of the University's Human Tissue Working Group, working with colleagues to ensure HTA compliance across the University.
I established the DNA and lymphoblastoid cell line banks for the ALSPAC and 1958 National Child Development birth cohort studies which have been widely used by the research community across the world and this lead to the development of the Bristol Bioresource Laboratories (https://www.bristol.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/research/groups/bblabs/)
BBL supports a large proportion of research in ALSPAC and Population Health Science at the University of Bristol. The laboratories are custodians of over 2 million samples from several cohort studies including ALSPAC, the 1946, 1958 1970, Millennium and Born in Bradford birth cohorts and clinical collections such as the Cleft Collective and Head and Neck 5000. The laboratories also provide a DNA extraction and genotyping service.
Research Governance and HTA compliance is an important part of my role. I have been a Human Tissue Authority Designated Individual (HTA DI) since 2006 and am currently chair of the University's Human Tissue Working Group, working with colleagues to ensure HTA compliance across the University.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
ALSPAC_B3853 _Shaheen_heavy_metals_in ALSPAC and BIB. Is exposure to toxic metals contributing to ethnic and social health inequalities in children and young adults in the UK?
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/04/2023 to 31/03/2026
Supply of BIB samples for WES - option 2 (BBL costs)
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/04/2023 to 31/03/2024
8073 MRC via LSHTM; WABR Collab
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/03/2018 to 28/03/2019
REVISED MRC 1958 new biomedical sweep aliquoting 1 blood tube only
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/04/2017 to 31/03/2024
8073 ESRC ES/K005987/1 LINK TO RC1542
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/08/2016 to 31/03/2018
Publications
Recent publications
08/05/2024Behavioural, psychiatric, and cognitive phenotypes associated with numbers of repeats of the FRAXE allele on the FMR2 gene.
Wellcome Open Research
Inflammation proteomics datasets in the ALSPAC cohort
Wellcome Open Research
Asthma inflammatory phenotypes on four continents
International Journal of Epidemiology
Development and evaluation of low-volume tests to detect and characterize antibodies to SARS-CoV-2
Frontiers in Immunology
BMI trajectory in childhood is associated with asthma incidence at young adulthood mediated by DNA methylation
Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology