Jim Wilson
Professor of Human Genetics
- Usher Institute
- MRC Human Genetics Unit
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Old Medical School,
Teviot Place - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
Jim Wilson is affiliated both to the Usher Institute and the MRC Human Genetics Unit. Of Fair Isle heritage, he grew up in Orkney where he attended the Kirkwall Grammar School, before reading genetics at the University of Edinburgh. After a year working with Svante Pääbo in Bavaria, Jim went up to New College in Oxford where he completed a DPhil in human population genetics with David Goldstein. Jim moved back to Edinburgh in 2003 after a stint at University College London, to take up a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.
He has published over 230 peer-reviewed articles, 46 of which were in the top genetics journal Nature Genetics, 10 in Nature and 2 in Science. His ISI Web of Science h-index is 72, his m-value 3.7, and he is a Thomson-Reuters highly cited researcher (highlycited.com) from 2014-2017.
Over the last decade Jim led two large genetic epidemiology studies in Orkney and Shetland. These platform resources for health research benefit from rich phenotyping, deep genotyping, a tissue biobank and prospective follow up through record linkage and have contributed to the discovery of over 1000 novel associations. More recently he has initiated a number of international consortia to explore interests in the genetic architecture of complex traits.
Jim is engaged in science communication principally through radio and TV series explaining genetics to the public (e.g. Blood of the Vikings, On the Ocean, Is it better to be mixed race?, Gatwick Baby, British More or Less, Twincredibles, Meet the Izzards, the IFTA-winning Blood of the Irish and Blood of the Travellers, a book and radio series, The Scots, A Genetic Journey) and was involved in the genetic ancestry testing business for over a decade.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor
- 1997 Bachelor of Science (honours), 1st, University of Edinburgh
- Doctorate
- 2002 Doctor of Philosophy, DPhil, University of Oxford
-
Guidelines for genetic ancestry inference created through roundtable discussions
In:
Human Genetics and Genomics Advances, vol. 4, pp. 100178
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xhgg.2023.100178
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
An atlas of genetic scores to predict multi-omic traits
(9 pages)
In:
Nature, vol. 616, pp. 123-131
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05844-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Comparative analysis of transferrin and IgG N-glycosylation in two human populations
(13 pages)
In:
Communications biology, vol. 6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04685-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Clinical case study meets population cohort: Identification of a BRCA1 pathogenic founder variant in Orcadians
In:
European Journal of Human Genetics
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses improve resolution of genes and pathways influencing lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk
(13 pages)
In:
Nature Genetics, vol. 55, pp. 410-422
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-023-01314-0
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Mendelian randomization and clinical trial evidence supports TYK2 inhibition as a therapeutic target for autoimmune diseases
In:
EBioMedicine, vol. 89
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104488
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Mendelian randomisation identifies priority groups for prophylactic EBV vaccination
In:
BMC Infectious Diseases, vol. 23, pp. 65
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-023-08031-3
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis
In:
Genome Biology, vol. 23, pp. 268
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-022-02837-1
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Identifying causal serum protein-cardiometabolic trait relationships using whole genome sequencing
In:
Human Molecular Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddac275
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Genetic and phenotypic links between obesity and extracellular vesicles
In:
Human Molecular Genetics, vol. 31, pp. 3643-3651
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddac069
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)