Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I investigate the link between DNA methylation, the brain and mental health across the lifespan. Specifically, I focus on traits including depression, hyperactivity and behavioural difficulties as well as mental health conditions such as anorexia nervosa and schizophrenia. As an active member of the ENIGMA Schizophrenia, BrainAge, and Eating Disorder working groups, I have a long track record of investigating brain imaging correlates of mental health conditions and how these link to genetic and epigenetic markers, in the context of development and aging. In my research I apply several approaches including methylome-wide association analyses, mixed and multi-level modelling, as well as causal inference methods such as Mendelian randomization. I also study the life-course of these associations by applying longitudinal analyses on prospectively collected data from large UK and international cohorts.
Biography
I have expert knowledge on mental health research and hands-on experience in leading large-scale collaborations, as part of my work within the ENIGMA consortium. My career has taken me to diverse research environments in the UK (MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, King’s College London), Germany (TU Dresden), the Netherlands and the US (as part of my DFG-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Georgia State University), allowing me to develop skills, which I apply now in my own research.
I use the following methods:
R programming, methylome-wide and genetic association analyses, FreeSurfer, mixed and multi-level modelling, as well as causal inference methods such as Mendelian randomization
Willing to supervise doctoral students
Accepting PhD students
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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BrainHealth - Decoding life course pathways of mental ageing - Frontier Research Guarantee
Walton, E. (PI) & Ward, A. (CoI)
1/10/23 → 30/09/28
Project: EU Commission
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Brain ageing in schizophrenia (GW4 BioMed MRC DTP PhD studentship)
Walton, E. (PI)
1/10/20 → 30/09/24
Project: Research-related funding
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Advancing quantification of autistic traits (ESRC SWDTP Studentship)
Walton, E. (PI)
1/10/20 → 30/09/24
Project: Research-related funding
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Epigenetic timing effects on child developmental outcomes: a longitudinal meta-regression of findings from the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics Consortium
Neumann, A., Sammallahti, S., Cosin-Tomas, M., Reese, S. E., Suderman, M., Alemany, S., Almqvist, C., Andrusaityte, S., Arshad, S. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Beilin, L., Breton, C., Bustamante, M., Czamara, D., Dabelea, D., Eng, C., Eskenazi, B., Fuemmeler, B. F., Gilliland, F. D. & Grazuleviciene, R. & 46 others, , 14 Apr 2025, In: Genome Medicine. 17, 1, 39.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Lifestyle behaviours do not moderate the association between childhood maltreatment and comorbid depression and cardiometabolic disease in older adults: a meta-analysis
Layinka, J., Souama, C., Defina, S., Baltramonaityte, V., Cecil, C. A. M., Shah, P., Milaneschi, Y., Lamers, F., Penninx, B. W. J. H. & Walton, E., 31 Dec 2025, In: BMC medicine. 23, 1, 133.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Prenatal stress, epigenetically-assessed glucocorticoid exposure at birth, and child psychiatric symptoms: A prospective, multi-cohort study
Creasey, N., Schuurmans, I., Tsotsi, S., Defina, S., Baltramonaityte, V., Felix, J. F., Neumann, A., Page, C. M., Tollenaar, M., Bekkhus, M., Walton, E. & Cecil, C., 31 May 2025, In: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 175, 107388.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Strengthening Rigor and Reproducibility in Epigenome-Wide Association Studies of Social Exposures and Brain-Based Health Outcomes
McKenna, B. G., Lussier, A. A., Suderman, M. J., Walton, E., Simpkin, A. J., Hüls, A. & Dunn, E. C., 21 Apr 2025, In: Current Environmental Health Reports. 12, 1, 19.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open Access -
Stress reactivity moderates the association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in adolescents: Results from a population-based study
Baltramonaityte, V., Lussier, A. A., Smith, A. D. A. C., Simpkin, A. J., Fairchild, G., Dunn, E. C. & Walton, E., 15 Mar 2025, In: Journal of Affective Disorders. 373, p. 28-34 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access
Datasets
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Dataset for a Multivariate Genome-Wide Association Study of Psycho-Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity
Baltramonaityte, V. (Creator), Pingault, J.-B. (Creator), Cecil, C. A. M. (Creator), Choudhary, P. (Creator), Järvelin, M.-R. (Creator), Penninx, B. W. J. H. (Creator), Felix, J. F. (Creator), Sebert, S. (Creator), Milaneschi, Y. (Creator) & Walton, E. (Creator), University of Bath, 30 Jun 2023
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01179, https://github.com/VilteBaltra/Psycho-cardiometabolic-multimorbidity
Dataset