Paul R.H.J. Timmers (Ph.D.)
Thesis title: Human Lifespan: Recent Trends and Genetic Determinants

MRC DTP in Precision Medicine
Year of study: 4
- College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Contact details
- Email: paul.timmers@ed.ac.uk
PhD supervisors:
Address
- Street
-
Old Medical School
Teviot Place - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
Paul Timmers is a postdoctoral data analyst affiliated with the Usher Institute and the MRC Human Genetics Unit.
Qualifications
-
BSc Biochemistry 2015 Bachelor of Science (Honours), Imperial College London, UK
- MRes Biosciences: Biology of Ageing and Age-related Disease 2016 Masters of Research (Dean's List), University College London, UK
- PhD Precision Medicine 2020 Doctor of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, UK
Research summary
Genetics can tell us why some people live longer than others – and this knowledge will lead to therapeutics that keep us healthy for longer. As a statistical geneticist, Paul has investigated the lifespan and health of millions of individuals to discover new longevity genes and presented his work at international conferences including the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) conference and the European Mathematical Genetics Meeting (EMGM), among others.
During his doctoral training at the University of Edinburgh, he applied his expertise in programming (Unix and R) to population-scale datasets (such as UK Biobank and NHS Scotland). He is now continuing his career in genomic research with a focus on longevity, and working to expand his skillset to include whole-exome and whole-genome analysis, causal inference using Mendelian Randomisation, and the integration of multiple omics datasets.
Collaboration
Paul has active or previous collaborations with researchers from the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Lausanne, Switzerland), the Institute of Genomics (University of Tartu, Estonia), and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing (Cologne, Germany).
If you would like to collaborate—especially on an ageing-related project—please contact Paul using the listed email address.
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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) -
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) -
A saturated map of common genetic variants associated with human height
In:
Nature, vol. 610, pp. 704-712
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05275-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A multi-layer functional genomic analysis to understand noncoding genetic variation in lipids
(22 pages)
In:
American Journal of Human Genetics, vol. 109, pp. 1366-1387
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.06.012
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19
In:
Nature, vol. 608, pp. E1-E10
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04826-7
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)