Dr Minster is a genetic epidemiologist who studies the genetics of complex traits such as body composition, cardiometabolic disease, obesity and healthy aging. For more than ten years he has been a member of an interdisciplinary team engaged in understanding the role that genetics plays in such phenotypes among the people of Samoa and American Samoa. He has also recently been serving as a geneticist and bioinformatician with the SickleGenAfrica project of the H3Africa Consortium, which aims to understand the genetic determinants of organ damage in individuals with sickle cell disease.
1998 | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA | Bachelor of Science, Molecular Biology
2003 | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA | Master of Science in Information Science
2011 | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA | Doctor of Philosophy, Human Genetics
Current
Genomic Data Processing & Structures | HUGEN 2071
Genomic Data Pipelines & Tools | HUGEN 2072
Genomic Data Visualization & Integration | HUGEN 2073
Genome Bioinformatics Capstone | HUGEN 2074
Previous
Bioinformatics Resources for Geneticists | HUGEN 2010
Bioinformatics for Human Genetics | HUGEN 2070
Statistical Genetics | HUGEN 2080
Student Essays, Theses, and Dissertations
J.C. Carlson, D.E. Weeks, N.L. Hawley, G. Sun, H. Chen, T. Naseri, M.S. Reupena, R. Deka, S.T. McGarvey & R.L. Minster. Genome-wide association studies in Samoans give insight into the genetic etiology of fasting serum lipid levels. bioR?iv.
DOI:10.1101/411546
M. Krishnan, T.J. Major, R.K. Topless, O. Dewes, L. Yu, J.M.D. Thompson, L. McCowan, J. deZoysa, L.K. Stamp, N. Dalbeth, J. Harre Hindmarsh, N. Rapana, R. Deka, W.W.H. Eng, D.E. Weeks, R.L. Minster, S.T. McGarvey, S. Viali, P. Wilcox, D. Grattan, P.R. Shepherd, A.N. Shelling, R. Murphy & T.R. Merriman. Discordant association of the crebrf rs373863828 minor allele with increased body mass index and protection from type 2 diabetes in Maori and Pacific (Polynesian) people living in New Zealand. Diabetologia 61, 1603 (2018).
DOI:10.1007/s00125-018-4623-1
A.T. Kraja, E.W. Daw, P. Lenzini, L. Wang, S.J. Lin, C.A. Williams, A.B. Wells, K.L. Lunetta, J.M. Murabito, P. Sebastiani, G. Tosto, S. Barral, R.L. Minster, A. Yashin, T. Perls & M.A. Province. A comparison of genetic imputation methods using Long Life Family Study genotypes and sequence data with the 1000 Genome reference panel. Int. J. Bioinform. Res. Appl. in press.
M.M. Marron, J. Singh, R.M. Boudreau, K. Christensen, S. Cosentino, M.F. Feitosa, R.L. Minster, T. Perls, N. Schupf, P. Sebastiani, S. Ukraintseva, M.K. Wojczynski & A.B. Newman. A novel healthy blood pressure phenotype in the Long Life Family Study. J. Hypertens. 36, 43 (2018).
DOI: 10.1097/hjh.0000000000001514
S.A. Sherman, R.J. Rogers, K.K. Davis, R.L. Minster, S.A. Creasy, N.C. Mullarkey, M. O’Dell, P. Donahue, J.M. Jakicic. Energy expenditure in vinyasa yoga versus walking. J. Phys. Act. Health 19, 1–29 (2017).
DOI: 10.1123/jpah.2016-0548
J. Singh, R.L. Minster, N. Schupf, A. Kraja, Y. Liu, L. Christensen, A.B. Newman, C.M. Kammerer. Genomewide association scan of a mortality associated endophenotype for a long and healthy life in the Long Life Family Study. J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. in press.
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glx011
R.L. Minster, N.L. Hawley, C.-T. Su, G. Sun, E.E. Kershaw, H. Cheng, O.D. Buhule, J. Lin, M.S. Reupena, S. Viali, J. Tuitele, T. Naseri, Z. Urban, R. Deka, D.E. Weeks, S.T. McGarvey. A thrifty variant in CREBRF strongly influences body mass index in Samoans. Nat. Genet. 48, 1049–54 (2016).
DOI: 10.1038/ng.3620
J.L. Sanders, J. Singh, R.L. Minster, J.D. Walston, A.M. Matteini, K. Christensen, R. Mayeux, I.B. Borecki, T. Perls, A.B. Newman. Association Between Mortality and Heritability of the Scale of Aging Vigor in Epidemiology. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 64, 1679–83 (2016).
DOI: 10.1111/jgs.14190
R.L. Minster, J.L. Sanders, J. Singh, C.M. Kammerer, M.M. Barmada, A.M. Matteini, Q. Zhang, M.K. Wojczynski, E.W. Daw, J.A. Brody, A.M. Arnold, K.L. Lunetta, J.M. Murabito, K. Christensen, T.T. Perls, M.A. Province, & A.B. Newman. Genome-Wide Association Study and Linkage Analysis of the Healthy Aging Index. J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. 70, 1003–8 (2015).
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glv006
B.A. Kozel, C.-T. Su, J.R. Danback, R.L. Minster, S. Madan-Khetarpal, J. McConnell, M.K. Mac Neal, K.L. Levine, R.C. Wilson, R.C. Sciurba & Z. Urban. Biomechanical properties of the skin in cutis laxa. J. Invest. Dermatol.134, 2836–8 (2014).
DOI: 10.1038/jid.2014.224
O.D. Buhule, R.L. Minster, N.L. Hawley, M. Medvedovic, G. Sun, S. Viali, R. Deka, S.T. McGarvey, D.E. Weeks. Stratified randomization controls better for batch effects in 450K methylation analysis: a cautionary tale. Front. Genet. 5, 354 (2014).
DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2014.00354
N.L. Hawley, R.L. Minster, D.E. Weeks, S. Viali, M.S. Reupena, G. Sun, H. Cheng, R. Deka & S.T. McGarvey. Prevalence of adiposity and associated cardiometabolic risk factors in the Samoan Genome-Wide Association Study. Am. J. Hum. Biol.26, 491–501 (2014).
DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22553
