About
Reuben is a Principal Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine. He is committed to developing excellent education and supporting an environment which facilitates student learning.
A graduate of the University of Bath, Reuben joined the Genomic Informatics group for his PhD at the University of Southampton in 2012. He investigated approaches for the analysis of NGS data for medical and population genetics studies, under the supervision of Professors Sarah Ennis, Andrew Collins, and Dr Jane Gibson. Following his PhD, Reuben continued as a Research Fellow, working within the Wessex Clinical Exome Pilot providing bioinformatic support for NHS service development, and working to utilise clinical genomic data for research. Reuben was appointed to his lectureship in the Faculty 2017, and became heavily commited to education, particularly within genomics. In 2022, Reuben was appointed as Principal Teaching Fellow.
Current key roles:
Programme Lead, MSc Genomics (2020-present)
Faculty Deputy Director of Graduate School (2021-present)
Research
Research interests
- Student attitudes towards academic integrity
- Genomics of peritoneal malignancies
- Splicing regulation of metal binding proteins
Current research
Cancer
Investigate the mutational profiles and driver mutations of cancers, including pseudomyxoma peritonei, skin lesions, breast and blood cancers. Currently undertaking a large study on rare peritoneal malignancies, collaborating with Prof. Norman Carr and colleagues at the Peritoneal Malignancy Institute, Basingstoke.
Linkage Disequilibrium
LD provides information on the history of a DNA segment, including recombination and selection in collaboration with Prof. Andy Collins. We investigate these patterns with a view to progress human disease gene identification, as well as for agricultural genetics. Visiting Researcher at the University of Sydney, hosted by Dr Mehar Khatkar, to pursue collaborative work in this area.
Rare Disease
Through local and international collaborations, Dr Pengelly investigates the genetic causes of rare disease applying genomic techniques, including cleft lip/palate (with Prof. Ignacio Briceño, University of La Sabana), primary immunodeficiencies (with Prof. Tony Williams), ophthalmological disorders (with Prof. Andrew Lotery and Mr Jay Self), primary ciliary dyskinesia (with Prof. Jane Lucas) and intellectual disability (with Prof. Diana Baralle). Work alongside local clinicians and laboratory partners in order to develop and assess tools for diagnostic utility and improvement of clinical genomic practice.