Evelina Mocci, PhD
- Academic Title: Research Associate
- Primary Appointment: Medicine
- Additional Title: MCP, PhD
- Email: emocci@som.umaryland.edu
- Location: Institute of Genome Sciences
- Phone (Primary): 4107066782
Education and Training
University of Cagliari (Italy), BS, Biology, 2001
University of Cagliari (Italy), MA, Clinical Pathology, 2007
Autonoma University Madrid (Spain), MA, Quantitative methods in
Epidemiology, 2010
Autonoma University Madrid (Spain), PhD, Epidemiology and Public Health, 2018
Biosketch
I am a computational biologist affiliated with the Department of Medicine and the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. My research focuses on understanding the genetic and molecular basis of brain disorders and related complex traits, including chronic pain, substance use disorders, and neurological and psychiatric diseases. Prior to this work, I applied similar integrative genomics approaches to pancreatic cancer.
My work integrates multi-omic datasets, including genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic profiles, with clinical and demographic data to identify disease mechanisms and biomarkers. Using statistical genetics, machine learning, and computational modeling, I investigate how molecular variation contributes to disease risk, progression, and treatment response.
Research/Clinical Keywords
Genetic risk factors for Chronic Pain and Psychiatric Diseases, Multi‑Omics, Machine learning, Precision Medicine
Highlighted Publications
Mocci E, Ward K, Perry J.A., Starkweather A., Stone L.S., Schabrun S.M., Renn C., Dorsey S.G., Ament SA. Genome wide association joint analysis reveals 99 risk loci for pain susceptibility and pleiotropic relationships with psychiatric, metabolic, and immunological traits. PLoS Genet. 2023 Oct 16;19(10):e1010977. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010977. PMID: 37844115; PMCID: PMC10602383.
Dorsey SG, Mocci E, Lane MV and Krueger BK (2024). Rapid effects of valproic acid on the fetal brain transcriptome: Implications for brain development and autism. Translational Psychiatry, 14(1), 482. PMID: 39632793
Mocci E*, Kundu P* et al. Smoking modifies pancreatic cancer risk loci on 2q21.3 Cancer Res 2021 Feb 11;canres.3267.2020. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-3267.
Childs EJ*, Mocci E*, Campa D*, et al. Common variation at 2p13.3, 3q29, 7p13, and 17q25.1 associated with susceptibility to pancreatic cancer. Nat Genet. 2015 Aug;47(8):911-6. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3341. Epub 2015 Jun 22.PMID: 26098869; PMCID: PMC4520746.