David Stacey

Dr David Stacey

Research Fellow

School of Public Health

College of Health

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

I joined UniSA in March 2023 from the University of Cambridge, UK, where I was a Senior Research Associate leading the Integrative Genomics team within the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit. I am a functional geneticist interested in translating genetic discoveries into an improved biological understanding of disease, with a primary focus on psychiatric illness and cardiovascular disease. I initially trained as a wet-lab scientist, but have since transitioned into bioinformatic and genetic epidemiological methods.

I am currently working on several omic-level Mendelian randomization screens to identify potential causal genes, proteins, and metabolites for psychiatric disorders. I am using the findings from these studies to formulate hypotheses and inform the design of subsequent deep-dive studies using a recall-by-genotype design.

Also, in collaboration with Dr. Parul Mittal, Prof. Peter Hoffmann, and Dr. Catherine Toben, I am currently generating pilot mass-spec proteomic data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) purified from healthy volunteers to inform the design of a protein quantitative trait locus study focused on cellular, as opposed to plasma/serum, proteins.

Year Citation
2025 Minelli, A., Meloni, A., Bortolomasi, M., Pisanu, C., Zampieri, E., Congiu, D., . . . Stacey, D. (2025). Telomere length and mitochondrial DNA copy number in association with trauma-focused psychotherapy efficacy. Neuroscience Applied, 4(104095), 1-6.
DOI
2025 Tokolyi, A., Persyn, E., Nath, A. P., Burnham, K. L., Stacey, D., & Paul, D. S. (2025). Contribution of genetic determinants of blood gene expression and splicing to molecular phenotypes and health outcomes. Nature Genetics, 57(3), 616-625.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC7
2025 Stacey, D., Gaziano, L., Eldi, P., Toben, C., Benyamin, B., Lee, S. H., & Hyppönen, E. (2025). A Transcriptome-Wide Mendelian Randomization Study in Isolated Human Immune Cells Highlights Risk Genes Involved in Viral Infections and Potential Drug Repurposing Opportunities for Schizophrenia. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 198(6), 19-31.
DOI
2025 Mulugeta, A., Stacey, D., Lumsden, A. L., Madakkatel, I., Lee, S. H., Mäenpää, J., . . . Hyppönen, E. (2025). Protein markers of ovarian cancer and its subtypes: insights from proteome-wide Mendelian randomisation analysis. British Journal Of Cancer, 133(8), 1208-1217.
DOI
2024 Mulugeta, A., Lumsden, A., Madakkatel, I., Stacey, D., Lee, S. H., Mäenpää, J., . . . Hypponen, E. (2024). Phenome-wide association study of ovarian cancer identifies common comorbidities and reveals shared genetics with complex diseases and biomarkers. Cancer Medicine, 13(4, article no. e7051), 1-13.
DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC3
2024 Stacey, D., Benyamin, B., Lee, S. H., & Hyppönen, E. (2024). A metabolome-wide Mendelian randomization study identifies dysregulated arachidonic acid synthesis as a potential causal risk factor for bipolar disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 96(6), 455-462.
DOI Scopus13 WoS14 Europe PMC14
2024 Stacey, D., Suppiah, V., Benyamin, B., Lee, S. H., & Hyppönen, E. (2024). In-silico functional analyses identify TMPRSS15-mediated intestinal absorption of lithium as a modulator of lithium response in bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 358, 416-421.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2024 Duko, B., Mengistu, T. S., Stacey, D., Moran, L. J., Tessema, G., Pereira, G., . . . Hyppönen, E. (2024). Associations between maternal preconception and pregnancy adiposity and neuropsychiatric and behavioral outcomes in the offspring: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 342(116149), 1-20.
DOI Scopus9 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2023 Sathyanarayanan, A., Mueller, T. T., Ali Moni, M., Schueler, K., Stacey, D., & Xicota, L. (2023). Multi-omics data integration methods and their applications in psychiatric disorders. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 69, 26-46.
DOI Scopus56 WoS46 Europe PMC43
2023 Zhao, J. H., Stacey, D., Eriksson, N., Macdonald Dunlop, E., & Peters, J. E. (2023). Genetics of circulating inflammatory proteins identifies drivers of immune-mediated disease risk and therapeutic targets. Nature Immunology, 24(9), 1450-1551.
DOI Scopus503 Europe PMC499
2023 Zhao, J. H., Stacey, D., Eriksson, N., Macdonald-Dunlop, E., Hedman, Å. K., Kalnapenkis, A., . . . Peters, J. E. (2023). Author Correction: Genetics of circulating inflammatory proteins identifies drivers of immune-mediated disease risk and therapeutic targets (Nature Immunology, (2023), 24, 9, (1540-1551), 10.1038/s41590-023-01588-w). Nature Immunology, 24(11), 1960.
DOI Scopus17 Europe PMC16
2022 Kasher, M., Williams, F. M. K., Freidin, M. B., Malkin, I., Cherny, S. S., Livshits, G., . . . Slagboom, E. P. (2022). Understanding the complex genetic architecture connecting rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and inflammation: discovering causal pathways. Human Molecular Genetics, 31(16), 2810-2819.
DOI Scopus12 Europe PMC10
2022 Xicota, L., De Toma, I., Maffioletti, E., Pisanu, C., Squassina, A., Baune, B. T., . . . Dierssen, M. (2022). Recommendations for pharmacotranscriptomic profiling of drug response in CNS disorders. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 54, 41-53.
DOI Scopus8 WoS6 Europe PMC6
2022 Pisanu, C., Severino, G., De Toma, I., Dierssen, M., Fusar Poli, P., Gennarelli, M., . . . Squassina, A. (2022). Transcriptional biomarkers of response to pharmacological treatments in severe mental disorders: A systematic review. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 55, 112-157.
DOI Scopus12 WoS12 Europe PMC12
2022 Stacey, D., Chen, L., Stanczyk, P. J., Howson, J. M. M., Mason, A. M., Burgess, S., . . . Paul, D. S. (2022). Erratum: Publisher Correction: Elucidating mechanisms of genetic cross-disease associations at the PROCR vascular disease locus (Nature communications (2022) 13 1 (1222)). Nature communications, 13(1), 1962.
DOI Scopus1
2022 Stacey, D., Chen, L., Stanczyk, P. J., Howson, J. M. M., Mason, A. M., Burgess, S., . . . Paul, D. S. (2022). Elucidating mechanisms of genetic cross-disease associations at the PROCR vascular disease locus. Nature communications, 13(1), 15 pages.
DOI Scopus11 Europe PMC15
2021 Harshfield, E. L., Fauman, E. B., Stacey, D., Paul, D. S., & Koulman, A. (2021). Genome-wide analysis of blood lipid metabolites in over 5000 South Asians reveals biological insights at cardiometabolic disease loci. BMC Medicine, 19(1, article number 232), 1-17.
DOI Scopus37 Europe PMC38
2021 Ahluwalia, T. S., Prins, B. P., Abdollahi, M., Armstrong, N. J., Aslibekyan, S., Bain, L., . . . Alizadeh, B. Z. (2021). Genome-Wide Association Study of Circulating Interleukin 6 Levels Identifies Novel Loci.. Hum Mol Genet, 30(5), 393-409.
DOI Scopus38 WoS37 Europe PMC43
2020 Ciobanu, L. G., Sachdev, P. S., Trollor, J. N., Reppermund, S., Thalamuthu, A., Mather, K. A., . . . Baune, B. T. (2020). Downregulated transferrin receptor in the blood predicts recurrent MDD in the elderly cohort: a fuzzy forests approach. Journal of Affective Disorders, 267, 42-48.
DOI Scopus11 WoS12 Europe PMC8
2019 Harshfield, E. L., Koulman, A., Ziemek, D., Marney, L., Stacey, D., & Griffin, J. L. (2019). An unbiased lipid phenotyping approach to study the genetic determinants of lipids and their association with coronary heart disease risk factors.. Journal of Proteome Research, 18(6), 2397-2410.
DOI Scopus56 Europe PMC54
2019 Stacey, D., Fauman, E. B., Ziemek, D., Sun, B. B., Harshfield, E. L., Wood, A. M., . . . Paul, D. S. (2019). ProGeM: a framework for the prioritization of candidate causal genes at molecular quantitative trait loci. Nucleic Acids Research, 47(1, article no. e3), e3.
DOI Scopus73 Europe PMC107
2018 Van Der Laan, S. W., Harshfield, E. L., Hemerich, D., Stacey, D., Wood, A. M., & Asselbergs, F. W. (2018). From lipid locus to drug target through human genomics. Cardiovascular Research, 114(9), 1258-1270.
DOI Scopus31 Europe PMC24
2018 Sun, B. B., Maranville, J. C., Peters, J. E., Stacey, D., Staley, J. R., Blackshaw, J., . . . Butterworth, A. S. (2018). Genomic atlas of the human plasma proteome. Nature, 558(7708), 73-79.
DOI Scopus1513 Europe PMC1612
2018 Cohen-Woods, S., Fisher, H., Ahmetspahic, D., Douroudis, K., Stacey, D., Hosang, G., . . . McGuffin, P. (2018). Interaction between childhood maltreatment on immunogenetic risk in depression: Discovery and replication in clinical case-control samples. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 67, 203-210.
DOI Scopus30 WoS28 Europe PMC27
2018 Schubert, K., Stacey, D., Arentz, G., Clark, S., Air, T., Hoffmann, P., & Baune, B. (2018). Targeted proteomic analysis of cognitive dysfunction in remitted major depressive disorder: Opportunities of multi-omics approaches towards predictive, preventive, and personalized psychiatry. Journal of Proteomics, 188, 63-70.
DOI Scopus22 WoS20 Europe PMC18
2018 Stacey, D., Schubert, K., Clark, S., Amare, A., Milanesi, E., Maj, C., . . . Baune, B. (2018). A gene co-expression module implicating the mitochondrial electron transport chain is associated with long-term response to lithium treatment in bipolar affective disorder. Translational Psychiatry, 8(1), 183-1-183-11.
DOI Scopus28 WoS24 Europe PMC25
2018 Ciobanu, L. G., Sachdev, P. S., Trollor, J. N., Reppermund, S., Thalamuthu, A., Mather, K. A., . . . Baune, B. T. (2018). Co-expression network analysis of peripheral blood transcriptome identifies dysregulated protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum and immune response in recurrent MDD in older adults. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 107, 19-27.
DOI Scopus31 WoS30 Europe PMC31
2018 Ligthart, S., Vaez, A., Võsa, U., Stathopoulou, M. G., de Vries, P. S., Prins, B. P., . . . Morris, A. P. (2018). Genome Analyses of >200,000 Individuals Identify 58 Loci for Chronic Inflammation and Highlight Pathways that Link Inflammation and Complex Disorders. American Journal of Human Genetics, 103(5), 691-706.
DOI Scopus319 WoS311 Europe PMC341
2018 Culverhouse, R., Saccone, N., Horton, A., Ma, Y., Anstey, K., Banaschewski, T., . . . Bierut, L. (2018). Collaborative meta-analysis finds no evidence of a strong interaction between stress and 5-HTTLPR genotype contributing to the development of depression. Molecular psychiatry, 23(1), 133-142.
DOI Scopus257 WoS202 Europe PMC187
2017 Stacey, D., Ciobanu, L., & Baune, B. (2017). A systematic review on the association between inflammatory genes and cognitive decline in non-demented elderly individuals. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 27(6), 568-588.
DOI Scopus29 WoS28 Europe PMC23
2017 Stacey, D., Redlich, R., Büschel, A., Opel, N., Grotegerd, D., Zaremba, D., . . . Baune, B. (2017). TNF receptors 1 and 2 exert distinct region-specific effects on striatal and hippocampal grey matter volumes (VBM) in healthy adults. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 16(3), 352-360.
DOI Scopus17 WoS16 Europe PMC13
2016 Grosse, L., Ambrée, O., Jörgens, S., Jawahar, M., Singhal, G., Stacey, D., . . . Baune, B. (2016). Cytokine levels in major depression are related to childhood trauma but not to recent stressors. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 73, 24-31.
DOI Scopus94 WoS89 Europe PMC66
2016 Stacey, D., Lourdusamy, A., Ruggeri, B., Maroteaux, M., Jia, T., Cattrell, A., . . . Schumann, G. (2016). A translational systems biology approach in both animals and humans identifies a functionally related module of accumbal genes involved in the regulation of reward processing and binge drinking in males. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 41(3), 192-202.
DOI Scopus16 WoS14 Europe PMC16
2016 Schubert, K., Stacey, D., Air, T., & Baune, B. (2016). Peripheral blood gene expression analysis implicates B lymphocyte proliferation and ribosomal S26 transcripts in cognitive dysfunction in people with remitted Major Depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 190, 754-756.
DOI Scopus6 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2015 Redlich, R., Stacey, D., Opel, N., Grotegerd, D., Dohm, K., Kugel, H., . . . Dannlowski, U. (2015). Evidence of an IFN-γ by early life stress interaction in the regulation of amygdala reactivity to emotional stimuli. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 62, 166-173.
DOI Scopus36 WoS35 Europe PMC32
2015 Dannlowski, U., Grabe, H., Wittfeld, K., Klaus, J., Konrad, C., Grotegerd, D., . . . Baune, B. (2015). Multimodal imaging of a tescalcin (TESC)-regulating polymorphism (rs7294919)-specific effects on hippocampal gray matter structure. Molecular Psychiatry, 20(3), 398-404.
DOI Scopus44 WoS42 Europe PMC37
2015 Stringaris, A., Belil, P. V. R., Artiges, E., Lemaitre, H., Gollier-Briant, F., Wolke, S., . . . Ziesch, V. (2015). The brain s response to reward anticipation and depression in adolescence: Dimensionality, specificity, and longitudinal predictions in a community-based sample. American Journal of Psychiatry, 172(12), 1215-1223.
DOI Scopus236 Europe PMC204
2015 Galinowski, A., Miranda, R., Lemaitre, H., Paillère Martinot, M. L., Artiges, E., Vulser, H., . . . Thyreau, B. (2015). Resilience and corpus callosum microstructure in adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 45(11), 2285-2294.
DOI Scopus52 Europe PMC45
2015 O'Leary-Barrett, M., Pihl, R. O., Artiges, E., Banaschewski, T., Bokde, A. L. W., Büchel, C., . . . Mar, A. (2015). Personality, attentional biases towards emotional faces and symptoms of mental disorders in an adolescent sample. Plos One, 10(6), e0128271.
DOI Scopus8 Europe PMC6
2014 Nymberg, C., Banaschewski, T., Bokde, A. L., Büchel, C., Conrod, P., Flor, H., . . . Lalanne, C. (2014). DRD2/ANKK1 polymorphism modulates the effect of ventral striatal activation on working memory performance. Neuropsychopharmacology, 39(10), 2357-2365.
DOI Scopus30 Europe PMC28
2014 Dickie, E. W., Tahmasebi, A., French, L., Kovacevic, N., Banaschewski, T., Barker, G. J., . . . Boddaert, N. (2014). Global Genetic Variations Predict Brain Response to Faces. Plos Genetics, 10(8), e1004523.
DOI Scopus20 Europe PMC13
2014 Loth, E., Poline, J., Thyreau, B., Jia, T., Tao, C., Lourdusamy, A., . . . IMAGEN Consortium. (2014). Oxytocin receptor genotype modulates ventral striatal activity to social cues and response to stressful life events. Biological Psychiatry, 76(5), 367-376.
DOI Scopus53 Europe PMC48
2014 Stacey, D., Redlich, R., Opel, N., Grotegerd, D., Arolt, V., Kugel, H., . . . Dannlowski, U. (2014). No evidence of DISC1-associated morphological changes in the hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, or striatum in major depressive disorder cases and healthy controls. Journal of Affective Disorders, 166, 103-107.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC7
2014 Whelan, R., Watts, R., Orr, C. A., Althoff, R. R., Artiges, E., Banaschewski, T., . . . Ziesch, V. (2014). Neuropsychosocial profiles of current and future adolescent alcohol misusers. Nature, 512(7513), 185-189.
DOI Scopus377 Europe PMC317
2014 Paillère Martinot, M. L., Lemaitre, H., Artiges, E., Miranda, R., Goodman, R., Penttilä, J., . . . Schwartz, Y. (2014). White-matter microstructure and gray-matter volumes in adolescents with subthreshold bipolar symptoms. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(4), 462-470.
DOI Scopus36 Europe PMC29
2013 Stacey, D., Cohen-Woods, S., Toben, C., Arolt, V., Dannlowski, U., & Baune, B. (2013). Evidence of increased risk for major depressive disorder in individuals homozygous for the high-expressing 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 (LA) allele of the serotonin transporter promoter. Psychiatric Genetics, 23(5), 222-223.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6 Europe PMC4
2012 Stacey, D., Bilbao, A., Maroteaux, M., Jia, T., Easton, A., Longueville, S., . . . Schumann, G. (2012). RASGRF2 regulates alcohol-induced reinforcement by influencing mesolimbic dopamine neuron activity and dopamine release. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(51), 21128-21133.
DOI Scopus86 Europe PMC68
2011 Schumann, G., Coin, L., Lourdusamy, A., Charoen, P., Berger, K., Stacey, D., . . . Elliott, P. (2011). Genome-wide association and genetic functional studies identify autism susceptibility candidate 2 gene (AUTS2) in the regulation of alcohol consumption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(17), 7119-7124.
DOI Scopus231 Europe PMC203
2011 Schumann, G., Coin, L. J., Lourdusamy, A., Charoen, P., Berger, K. H., Stacey, D., . . . Metspalu, A. (2011). Genome-wide association and genetic functional studies identify autism susceptibility candidate 2 gene (AUTS2) in the regulation of alcohol consumption (Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences of the United States of America (2011) 108, 17, (7119-7124)). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(22), 9316.
DOI Scopus3
2009 Stacey, D. A., Clarke, T. K., & Schumann, G. (2009). The genetics of alcoholism. Current Psychiatry Reports, 11(5), 364-369.
DOI Scopus42 Europe PMC29

Year Citation
2019 Clark, S., Stacey, D., Schubert, K. O., & Baune, B. T. (2019). Transcriptomic analyses on the biological underpinnings of lithium treatment response. Poster session presented at the meeting of 14th world cpngress of biological psychiatry. Vancouver.
2017 Ciobanu, L., Sachdev, P. S., Trollor, J. N., Reppermund, S., Thalamuthu, A., Mather, K. A., . . . Baune, B. (2017). TRANSCRIPTOME SIGNATURE OF DEPRESSION. Poster session presented at the meeting of EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY. Jerusalem, ISRAEL: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
DOI
2017 Ciobanu, L., Sachdev, P. S., Trollor, J. N., Reppermund, S., Thalamuthu, A., Mather, K. A., . . . Baune, B. (2017). GENOME-WIDE GENE EXPRESSION SIGNATURE OF DEPRESSION. Poster session presented at the meeting of EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY. Jerusalem, ISRAEL: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
DOI WoS1
2017 Schubert, O., Stacey, D., Air, T., Arentz, G., Hoffmann, P., & Baune, B. T. (2017). USING AN INTEGRATED SYSTEMS BIOLOGY APROACH TO CHARACTERIZE THE MOLECULAR PROFILE OF COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION IN PEOPLE WITH REMITTED MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER. Poster session presented at the meeting of AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY. SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD.
2017 Schubert, K. O., Stacey, D., Arentz., Hoffmann., & Baune. (2017). Using a Correlational Systems Biology Approach in Gene Expression and Proteomic Discovery Platforms, to characterize Cognitive Dysfunction in people with remitted Major Depression. Poster session presented at the meeting of EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY. Jerusalem, Israel: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
DOI WoS1
2016 Schubert, K. O., Stacey., Arentz., Hoffmann., & Baune. (2016). Gene expression and Proteomic Analysis of Cognitive Dysfunction in People with Remitted Major Depression.. Poster session presented at the meeting of 15th Human Proteome Organization World Congress. Taipei, Taiwan.
2016 Schubert, K. O., Stacey., Arentz., Hoffmann., & Baune. (2016). Peripheral blood gene expression and proteomic analysis implicates B-cell development and ribosomal proteins in cognitive dysfunction in people with remitted Major Depression.. Poster session presented at the meeting of Human Brain Proteome Project (HBPP) Workshop. Stockholm, Sweden.
2015 Schubert, K. O., Stacey, D., Arentz, G., Hoffmann, P., & Baune, B. T. (2015). Peripheral blood gene expression and proteomic analysis implicates B-cell development and ribosomal proteins in cognitive dysfunction in people with remitted Major Depression. Poster session presented at the meeting of Society for Mental Health Research Conference 2015. Brisbane.

  • Assessing the feasibility and laying the groundwork for applying the ‘recall by genotype’ design in MS research, Multiple Sclerosis Australia, 01/08/2025 - 31/07/2026

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2024 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Liam Veltman
2024 Co-Supervisor - - Master Full Time Mr Rory Shepherd
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Endeshaw Chekol Abebe

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