Jim Wilson
Professor of Human Genetics
- Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics
- 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
-
Regional variation in the incidence rate and sex ratio of multiple sclerosis in Scotland 2010-2017: findings from the Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register
(11 pages)
In:
Journal of Neurology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-019-09413-x
Contribution to journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A catalogue of genetic loci associated with kidney function from analyses of a million individuals
In:
Nature Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-019-0407-x
Contribution to journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Author Correction : New genetic signals for lung function highlight pathways and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associations across multiple ancestries
In:
Nature Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-019-0438-3
Contribution to journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Genetic correlations between diabetes and glaucoma: an analysis of continuous and dichotomous phenotypes
In:
American journal of ophthalmology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2019.05.015
Contribution to journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Author Correction : Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 2068
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10160-w
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Publisher Correction : Parent of origin genetic effects on methylation in humans are common and influence complex trait variation
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 2069
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10155-7
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors
In:
Nature Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-019-0403-1
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Genetic landscape of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease identifies heterogeneous cell-type and phenotype associations
(14 pages)
In:
Nature Genetics, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 494-+
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0342-2
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Disentangling the genetics of lean mass
In:
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy272
Contribution to journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Author Correction : Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 155
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07819-1
Contribution to journal › Comment/debate (Published)