Verena Zuber is Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Imperial College London. Her main research interest is the development of statistical methodology for causal inference and statistical genetics. Her motivation is grounded in translational projects looking into molecular mechanisms, causes of disease and how to define efficient intervention and prevention strategies to improve human health.
Dr Denis Baird a Computational Scientist at Biogen, working in the Discovery Genetics group within Genomic Medicine. Its mission involves harnessing genetic and clinical data to evaluate the viability of drug targets for inclusion in the pre-clinical portfolio. Denis’ research focus lies at the intersection of genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics, where he integrates genetic, computational, and phenotypic data to unravel biological pathways underlying diseases. At Biogen, a significant portion of his work revolves around performing Mendelian randomization and colocalization analysis on molecular traits to drive target discovery efforts for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Frank Dudbridge is Professor of Statistical Genetics and Head of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Leicester, having previously held academic appointments at the MRC Biostatistics Unit and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His interests are in statistical methods for genetic epidemiology, in which he has contributed methods for haplotype analysis, genome-wide association studies, genetic risk prediction and Mendelian Randomization. His applied collaborations include cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer and psychiatric genetics.
Dr Luke Jostins-Dean is the Principal Scientist at Nightingale Health UK, and an Associate Professor and group leader at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on developing statistical approaches to leverage genetic, metagenomic and metabolomic profiling to understand and predict the onset and progression of common diseases.
Luke Jostins-Dean
Zoltán Kutalik will be addressing the molecular traits theme. He is a statistical geneticist, associate professor at the University of Lausanne, heading the Statistical Genetics Group and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Exeter. His main research interest lies in developing statistical methods integrating various data modalities to better understand the genetic architecture of complex human diseases.
Jean Morrison is an Assistant Professor in the University of Michigan Department of Biostatistics. Jean develops and applies statistical methods for genetic and genomic data with a focus on integrative methods for multiple phenotypes including Mendelian randomization, multi-trait factor analysis, and TWAS.
They are especially interested in high-dimensional phenotypes such as metabolomics, proteomics, and imaging phenotypes as well as opportunities provided by EHR-linked biobanks. Before joining the University of Michigan, Jean completed a postdoc at the University of Chicago Department of Human Genetics and their PhD at the University of Washington Department of Biostatistics.
Dr John Muriuki is a Research Fellow at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. John’s current research interest is in understanding the complex relationship between micronutrient deficiencies and life-threatening severe infections in young African children. John is applying genomic approaches to determine causality and mechanisms.
Michel Nivard is a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Bristol, his work considers the bio/psycho/social causes and consequences of psychopathology and relies heavily on triangulation.
Dr Karl Smith-Byrne is a Research Fellow at Green Templeton College and Senior Molecular Epidemiologist at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford. In this role, he co-leads the metabolomics and proteomics research programme into the aetiology of prostate cancer, among others, using an integrative multi-omics approach.
Additionally, Karl conducts research into aetiology and risk prediction for various outcomes within the Million Women Study with a focus on uses of whole exome data. He also co-leads proteomics as part of a large European initiative, DISCERN, that focuses on understanding the causes of pancreatic, renal, and colorectal cancer.
He worked previously at the Genomic Epidemiology Branch of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. While there Karl focused on implementing multi-omic methods to better understand factors contributing the aetiology, early detection, and prognosis of various cancers.
Professor Anne Tybjærg-Hansen MD DMSc; Chief Physician at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark (1999). Clinical Professor of Clinical Biochemistry with Focus on Translational Molecular Cardiology at the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark (2009).
Her research has focused on the genetics and genomics of cardiovascular disease and related diseases in large prospective studies of the general population (>150,000 participants). Recent focus areas include Mendelian Randomization, polygenic risk scores for dyslipidemia and CAD, and amyloidosis and amyloidosis-related heart disease and other diseases.
