Professor Neil Morgan BSc, PhD

Professor Neil Morgan

Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
Professor of Cardiovascular Genetics

Contact details

Email
n.v.morgan@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@neilvmorgan
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK
Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences Research Theme: Thrombosis and Haemostasis

Neil Morgan is a Professor of Cardiovascular Genetics within the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences.

He has published over 130 research papers in high impact scientific journals in the field of human genetics and has an H-index of 56, with 14,000 citations. His current research primarily involves the identification and characterisation of novel genes for inherited diseases in the haematopoietic system and haemostasis.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6433-5692

Qualifications

  • PhD in Molecular Genetics 2005
  • BSc (Hons) Applied Biochemistry 1994

Biography

Neil Morgan qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Biochemistry from Liverpool John Moores University in 1994. His first post was as Research Assistant at Guy’s Hospital until 2000 followed by a brief spell as a Research Associate at Leicester University. He joined the Medical and Molecular Genetics group at the University of Birmingham where he went on to study for a PhD in Molecular Genetics. In 2011 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Birmingham and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016, to Reader in 2020 and subsequently to Professor in 2021.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Neil is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Gene identification of inherited bleeding disorders
  • Next generation sequencing technologies in human disease gene identification
  • Platelet and Megakaryocyte Biology of novel disease genes mutated in inherited thrombocytopenia
  • Phenotyping and functional testing of Bleeding Disorders of Unknown Cause (BDUC)

Current PhD students:  Zoe Markham-Lee, Natasha Pavey, Ravinder Bhardwaj

Current Postdoctoral research fellows: Dr Xenia Sawkulycz

Alumni PhD students: Ben Johnson, Jane Futterer, Atif Alsaedi, Abdullah Khan, Annabel Maclachlan, Emily Colley, Ibrahim Almazni, Rachel Stapley,

Alumni Postdoctoral research fellows: Dr Sarah Fletcher, Dr Abdullah Khan, Rachel Stapley

Research

A major aim of his research at the University of Birmingham has been to identify novel genes for inherited diseases to allow improved genetic diagnosis and gain important insights into the pathogenesis of the disorder and elucidate the function of the disease gene. His current research is focusing on the molecular genetics of patients with platelet-based bleeding disorders and low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia). He utilises the latest next generation sequencing technologies to identify novel gene defects providing clues to genes and proteins involved in normal platelet physiology which will ultimately lead to devising new treatment strategies to minimise the risk of bleeding in such patients.

His past research has primarily involved identification of the novel genes for inherited diseases of the haematopoietic system. He has been extremely successful in his pursuit and key findings include: 

  • SLFN14 mutations causing an inherited bleeding disorder with thrombocytopenia and platelet secretion defects
  • TRAC mutations causing a novel immunodeficiency disorder  
  • SLC29A3 mutations causing familial Faisalabad histiocytosis/Rosai-Dorfman disease
  • BLOC1S3 mutations causing a novel form of Hermansky Pudlak disorder (HPS8)
  • CHRNG, RAPSN and DOK7 mutations causing multiple pterygia syndrome/foetal akinesia deformation sequence
  • PLA2G6 mutations causing a spectrum of childhood onset neurodegenerative disorders associated with brain iron accumulation
My Research with Dr Neil Morgan

Other activities

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Barrachina, MN, Pernes, G, Becker, IC, Allaeys, I, Hirsch, TI, Groeneveld, DJ, Khan, AO, Freire, D, Guo, K, Carminita, E, Morgan, PK, Collins, TJC, Mellett, NA, Wei, Z, Almazni, I, Italiano, JE, Luyendyk, J, Meikle, PJ, Puder, M, Morgan, NV, Boilard, E, Murphy, AJ & Machlus, KR 2023, 'Efficient megakaryopoiesis and platelet production require phospholipid remodeling and PUFA uptake through CD36', Nature Cardiovascular Research, vol. 2, no. 8, pp. 746-763. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-023-00305-y

Bastida, JM, Malvestiti, S, Boeckelmann, D, Palma-Barqueros, V, Wolter, M, Lozano, ML, Glonnegger, H, Benito, R, Zaninetti, C, Sobotta, F, Schilling, FH, Morgan, NV, Freson, K, Rivera, J & Zieger, B 2022, 'A novel GATA1 variant in the C-terminal zinc finger compared with the platelet phenotype of patients with a likely pathogenic variant in the N-terminal zinc finger', Cells, vol. 11, no. 20, 3223. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11203223

Markham-Lee, Z, Morgan, N & Emsley, J 2022, 'Inherited ADAMTS13 mutations associated with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: a short review and update', Platelets. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2022.2138306

Vyas, H, Alcheikh, A, Lowe, G, Stevenson, WS, Morgan, N & Rabbolini, DJ 2022, 'Prevalence and natural history of variants in the ANKRD26 gene: a short review and update of reported cases', Platelets, vol. 33, no. 8, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2022.2071853

Lacey, J, Webster, SJ, Heath, P, Hill, CJ, Nicholson-Goult, L, Wagner, B, Khan, A, Morgan, N, Makris, M & Daly, ME 2022, 'Sorting Nexin 24 is required for α-granule biogenesis and cargo delivery in megakaryocytes', Haematologica, vol. 2022, no. 8, 279636, pp. 1902-1913. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2021.279636

Almazni, IAF, Chudakou, P, Dawson-Meadows, A, Downes, K, Freson, K, Mason, J, Page, P, Reay, K, Myers, B & Morgan, N 2021, 'A novel RUNX1 exon 3 - 7 deletion causing a familial platelet disorder', Platelets. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2021.1887470

Pike, J, Simms, V, Smith, C, Morgan, N, Khan, A, Poulter, N, Styles, I & Thomas, S 2021, 'An adaptable analysis workflow for characterization of platelet spreading and morphology', Platelets, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 54-58. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2020.1748588

Morgan, N, Yngvadottir, B, O'Driscoll, M, Clark, GR, Walsh, D, Martin, E, Tee, L, Reid, E, Titheradge, H & Maher, E 2021, 'Evidence that autosomal recessive spastic cerebral palsy-1 (CPSQ1) is caused by a missense variant in HPDL', Brain Communications, vol. 3, no. 1, fcab002. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcab002

Megy, K, Downes, K, Morel‐kopp, M, Bastida, JM, Brooks, S, Bury, L, Leinoe, E, Gomez, K, Morgan, NV, Othman, M, Ouwehand, WH, Perez Botero, J, Rivera, J, Schulze, H, Trégouët, D & Freson, K 2021, 'GoldVariants, a resource for sharing rare genetic variants detected in bleeding, thrombotic and platelet disorders: communication from the ISTH SSC Subcommittee on Genomics in Thrombosis and Hemostasis', Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 2612-2617. https://doi.org/10.1111/jth.15459

Stapley, R, Smith, C, Haining, E, Bacon, A, Lax, S, Pisareva, V, Pisarev, A, Watson, S, Khan, A & Morgan, N 2021, 'Heterozygous mutation SLFN14 K208N in mice mediates species-specific differences in platelet and erythroid lineage commitment: SLFN14 mediates lineage commitment in mice', Blood Advances, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 377–390. https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002404

UK GAPP Study Group 2021, 'Novel gene variants in patients with platelet-based bleeding using combined exome sequencing and RNAseq murine expression data', Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 262-268. https://doi.org/10.1111/jth.15119

The UK GAPP Study Group, Stapley, R, Poulter, N, Khan, A, Smith, C, Bignell, P, Fratter, C, Lester, W, Lowe, G & Morgan, N 2021, 'Rare missense variants in Tropomyosin-4 (TPM4) are associated with platelet dysfunction, cytoskeletal defects and excessive bleeding', Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. https://doi.org/10.1111/jth.15584

Almazni, IAF, Stapley, R, Khan, A & Morgan, N 2020, 'A comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of 126 patients with an inherited platelet disorder to identify both sequence and copy number genetic variants', Human Mutation, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 1848-1865. https://doi.org/10.1002/humu.24114

Nagy, M, Perrella, G, Dalby, A, Becerra, F, Garcia Quintanilla, L, Pike, J, Morgan, N, Gardiner, EE, Heemskerk, JWM, Azocar, L, Miquel, JF, Mezzano, D & Watson, S 2020, 'Flow studies on human GPVI-deficient blood under coagulating and noncoagulating conditions', Blood Advances, vol. 4, no. 13, pp. 2953–2961. https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020001761

Letter

RUNX1 international data-sharing consortium 2021, 'The RUNX1 Database (RUNX1db): establishment of an expert curated RUNX1 registry and genomics database as a public resource for familial platelet disorder with myeloid malignancy', Haematologica, vol. 106, no. 11, pp. 3004-3007. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2021.278762

View all publications in research portal