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
-
Inbreeding, native American ancestry and child mortality: Linking human selection and paediatric medicine
In:
Human Molecular Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddab302
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Genome-wide Analysis Identifies Novel Gallstone-susceptibility Loci Including Genes Regulating Gastrointestinal Motility
(33 pages)
In:
Hepatology, pp. 1-33
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.32199
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Genome-Wide Association Study of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease using Electronic Health Records
In:
Hepatology Communications
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hep4.1805
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Genetic insights into biological mechanisms governing human ovarian ageing
In:
Nature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03779-7
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Genome-wide methylation data improves dissection of the effect of smoking on body mass index
In:
PLoS Genetics
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19
In:
Nature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03767-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Retinal arteriolar tortuosity and fractal dimension are associated with long-term cardiovascular outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes
In:
Diabetologia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-021-05499-z
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Contribution of common risk variants to multiple sclerosis in Orkney and Shetland
In:
European Journal of Human Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-021-00914-w
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Pan-ancestry exome-wide association analyses of COVID-19 outcomes in 586,157 individuals
In:
American Journal of Human Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.05.017
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The trans-ancestral genomic architecture of glycemic traits
In:
Nature Genetics, vol. 149
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00852-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)