Chris Ponting

Professor Chris Ponting (Christopher Paul Ponting) is a British researcher with a special interest in genomics and bioinformatics. Prof. Ponting is Section Head at Biomedical Genomics, Chair of Medical Bioinformatics, and a Principal Investigator at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

In 2018, Professor Ponting replaced Esther Crawley as Deputy Chair of the UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative (CMRC). He is also a long term friend of ME patient and activist Simon McGrath.

Chris has been on the editorial boards of many different research journals and founded CGAT, a training center funded by the UK's Medical Research Council.

Professional organizations

 * Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science
 * Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation

ME/CFS research
Professor Ponting is principle investigator on a large study that will use the UK Biobank data to "investigate the biomolecular and genetic bases to myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS)".

DecodeME
Ponting is principle investigator for DecodeME, the largest ever study of genetic factors in ME/CFS.

Notable studies

 * 2020, Genetic risk factors of ME/CFS: a critical review - [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7530519 (Full text)

Talks and interviews

 * 2018, Q&A with Prof Chris Ponting - Action for ME
 * 2020, Q&A with Chris Ponting - Science for ME forum

News articles and blogs

 * May 2020, Coronavirus in Scotland: Charity warns Covid will cause a spike in ME cases
 * Jan 2020, Trial By Error: The UK’s Proposed Genetics Study
 * Apr 2019, Blood test for chronic fatigue syndrome could speed diagnosis, study says
 * Mar 2018, CFS/ME Research Collaborative announces Major Change in Policy and New Deputy Chair
 * Jul 2017, At least 75 per cent of our DNA really is useless junk after all
 * May 2016, How do our genes actually work? - podcast

Online presence

 * Twitter
 * Edinburgh University profile
 * Computational and Disease Genomics Research Group
 * PubMed
 * Researchgate profile
 * ORCID profile
 * Google scholar profile

Learn more

 * UK Biobank genetic and biomolecular ME/CFS study