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
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Genetic analysis of over one million people identifies 535 new loci associated with blood pressure traits
In:
Nature Genetics, vol. 50, pp. 1412-1425
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0205-x
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals
(16 pages)
In:
Nature Genetics, vol. 50, no. 8, pp. 1112-+
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0147-3
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
PR interval genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies 50 loci associated with atrial and atrioventricular electrical activity
In:
Nature Communications
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04766-9
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Reply to 'Misestimation of heritability and prediction accuracy of male-pattern baldness'
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 2538
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04808-2
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Author Correction : GWAS for male-pattern baldness identifies 71 susceptibility loci explaining 38% of the risk
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 2536
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04857-7
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Meta-analysis of exome array data identifies six novel genetic loci for lung function
In:
Wellcome Open Research , vol. 3, pp. 4
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Genome-wide association meta-analysis highlights light-induced signaling as a driver for refractive error
In:
Nature Genetics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0127-7
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Author Correction : The Irish DNA Atlas: Revealing Fine-Scale Population Structure and History within Ireland
In:
Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 7208
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24846-6
Contribution to journal › Comment/debate (Published) -
Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function
In:
Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-16
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04362-x
Contribution to journal › Article (Published) -
Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases
In:
Nature Communications
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03646-6
Contribution to journal › Article (Published)