Career History
My BSc (Hons) (1997-2000) at Adelaide University and PhD (2003-2007) through Melbourne University (Supervisor Professor Richard G.H. Cotton, Genomic Disorders Research Centre) were in molecular genetics. Following a post-doctoral position at the UHI Millennium Institute, UK, (now the University of the Highlands and Islands) in 2007-2011, I returned to Australia, joining QIMR Berghofer.
From 2011 to 2025, I was a statistical geneticist and bioinformatician research officer, and then senior research officer, in the Statistical Genetics Laboratory, embedded in the wider Genetic Epidemiology department.
As of 2026, I am now the team head of the newly formed Genetics and Skin Cancer Lab. I have expertise in large data analysis and am at the forefront of using statistical techniques to identify the genetic underpinnings of skin cancer, particularly melanoma.
Area of Interest
Statistical genetics
Genome-wide association studies
Polygenic risk scores
Skin cancer
Professional Associations
2026 - current. Team Head, Genetics and Skin Cancer, QIMR Berghofer
2023 - current. Member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Skin and Skin Cancer Centre
2022 - current. Research Integrity Advisor. QIMR Berghofer, Queensland, Australia
2021 - current. Honorary Senior Fellow in Biomedical Sciences - Partners, School of Biomedical Science, The University of Queensland
2019 – current: Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology
2018 – current: QIMR Berghofer Senior Research Officer, Statistical Genetics
Funding successes
AUD 5.5 million for ten grants as either a chief investigator A (CIA) or co-CI in the last 5 years. Career total 16 grants (>$7.3 million) as CIA or co-CI.
• 2025 November: $15,000 grant from CIVIC Solutions to contribute to a research project that will genotype 148 new
Australian uveal melanoma samples. This research will further illuminate the genetic pathways that drive this devastating disease and improve outcomes for patients in the future.
• 2025 July Co-Investigator on an Australian Skin and Skin Cancer Research Centre Early Career Researcher Grant “Using spatial transcriptomics to illuminate the impact of ultraviolet radiation on the skin”. ID 32025. AU $15,000
• 2025 July Co-Investigator on an Australian Skin and Skin Cancer Research Centre Early Career Researcher Grant “Whole exome sequencing individuals with familial hidradenitis suppurativa to ascertain diagnostic yield of known genes, and identify new causal genes”. ID 12025, AU $25,000
• 2025 June 2024 MRFF Genomics Health Futures grant “Q-Inform – does knowledge of genetic risk for skin cancer change behaviour?” MRFF 2045395. $673,303.36 ex GST. CIA.
• 2024 August – Co-Investigator on an Australian Skin and Skin Cancer Research Centre Early Career Researcher Grant “Confirming and Further Exploration of Previously Reported Germline Genetic Influences on Invasive vs In situ Melanoma Risk.” AU $20,000.
• 2024 May – CIB on NHMRC Partnership grant APP 2030931 “Melanoma Population Screening: Using Genomics to Facilitate Risk Stratification”. AU $1,117,222.
• 2023 December – Lead CI on project RSP-271-2024 ”Combining genetics with behavioural and environmental risks to predict skin cancers” from Tour de Cure. AU $ 96,692.59.
• 2023, September– Sole CI on a Melanoma research project “Improved genetic risk prediction tools for melanoma” that secured further funding from a donation from The Great Priory of Queensland. AU $10,000. Followed by a further matched donation of $20,000 in December 2023 from Hand Hearts Pockets.
• 2023 – Sole CI on a Melanoma research project funded by a donation from Brian and Merle Dwyer to QIMR Bergofer, “Improved genetic risk prediction tools for melanoma”; AU $25,000.
• 2020: Co-investigator on an Australian Skin and Skin Cancer Research Centre Early Career Researcher Grant “Translating Polygenic Risk Scores: feasibility, acceptability, and impact of providing melanoma holistic risk information”. ASSC-22020. AU $18,000.
• 2020: AI on NHMRC ideas grant APP1182775 “Connecting the Genome to Gene Function in Cutaneous Melanoma”. AU $594,110.62.
• 2020: CIH on NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies grant APP1185416 “QSKIN: the burden of skin cancer”. AU $3,074,296.50.
• 2018: Lead CI on QIMR Berghofer Seed funding grant “Systems Biology of the skin”. AU $48,500.
Research Projects
Current Research Projects
Q-Inform: A randomised control trial of risk stratified screening advice for melanoma
Matthew H Law
Gene mapping studies for melanoma and its risk factors including mole count
QSkin Sun and Health Study Genetics
Key Publications
Ingold N, Dusingize JC, Neale RE, Olsen CM, Whiteman DC, Duffy DL, MacGregor S, Law MH. Examining Evidence For A Causal Association Between Telomere Length & Nevus Count. J Invest Dermatol. 142(5): p. 1502-1505 e6 (2022)
Mangantig E, MacGregor S, Iles MM, … Khosrotehrani K, Barrett JH, Law MH. Germline variants are associated with increased primary
melanoma tumor thickness at diagnosis. Hum Mol Genet. Jan 6;29(21):3578-3587 (2021)
Helder M, Pandeya N, Seviiri M, Olsen CM, Whiteman DC, Law MH. No Evidence that Genetically Predicted Circulating Retinol Is Protective for Skin Cancer. J Invest Dermatol. 146(1): 264-267 (2026). PMID: 40581104