Bjarke Feenstra

Variants in the fetal genome near pro-inflammatory cytokine genes on 2q13 associate with gestational duration - Nature Communications Gestational duration depends on both maternal and fetal genetic influences. Here, the authors perform a fetal genome-wide association meta-analysis and find that a locus on 2q13 is associated with pre...

Interesting. Seems to connect well with the IL-1 locus we found in a fetal GWAS of gestational duration www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵 New paper out in PLoS Medicine ( doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004657 ):
Are common infections during pregnancy harmful to a child’s long-term cognitive outcomes?

We looked at over 250,000 full-siblings to find out.
Thread with explanation blow 👇

🧬🤰Still 2 weeks left to apply for this unique PhD fellowship in the genetics of fetal growth 👇👇

More details at our group website: feenstralab.github.io/posts/2025-0...

PhD fellowship in the genetics of growth and development in pregnancy in the Rasmussen Group

📢 We’re hiring a PhD Fellow 📢
Genetics of fetal and placental growth using measures derived from ultrasound imaging in pregnancy.

Co-supervised by Simon Rasmussen (CBMR, @cbmr.science) and me (SSI, @ssi-dk.bsky.social).
Start: Oct 1, 2025
Deadline: July 24, 2025
📎 employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=16...

This is VERY big genetics & health news, Regeneron (Pharmaceutical company with v strong genetics in medicine arm) is going to buy 23andme. investor.regeneron.com/news-release...

📢 Applications open for the SMARTbiomed Summer School!
🧠 Learn Causal Inference, Statistical Genetics & ML in R
📍 June 23–27 at the stunning Sandbjerg Estate, Denmark
⏳ Apply by April 19 — limited spots available!
👩‍🔬 For PhDs, postdocs & early-career researchers
🔗 smartbiomed.dk/news-and-eve...

Demonstration i solidaritet med Grønland på Lørdag kl. 12:00 foran den amerikanske ambassade. Håber at vi er mange der dukker op. #dkpol #dkmedier

www.facebook.com/events/40399...

Yes

GWAS summary statistics available here: www.danishnationalbiobank.com/gwas
/fin

31 genome-wide significant loci were found, harbouring plausible candidate genes like NFAT5, SAMD9, and SLC4A10. Intriguingly, MAGMA analysis showed enrichment of expression in pituitary tissue, underlining the importance of this gland in systemic osmolality regulation.
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Despite the power of these resources, we found no genetic associations for TIH. However, we also conducted GWAS analysis of plasma sodium in general, combining our results with a previous GWAS meta-analysis and detected many signals.
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We made use of (1) nationwide Danish registers for repeated sodium measurements and filled prescriptions of thiazides, and (2) Danish Blood Donor study and Copenhagen Hospital Biobank cohorts with existing genetic data for about half a million participants.
2/

Great effort by recently minted PhD Niklas Andersson (not on Bluesky) at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen. His thesis was on thiazide induced hyponatremia (TIH), low plasma sodium as a potential adverse reaction to use of thiazide diuretics. This paper investigates the genetics of TIH.
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A colorful hand-lettered sign made for the Pittsburgh Stand Up for Science rally. It reads: Science Pays, Science Saves. Defend It, Fund It.

Science Pays, Science Saves. Defend It, Fund It. #StandUpForScience

ESHG Abstract Deadline Reminder!
The Submission Deadline for #ESHG2025 is in a week (Jan 30)!

Please join us this spring (May 24-27) in Milan, Italy, for another fun and exciting ESHG conference!

Learn more at 2025.eshg.org

Please retweet.

#Genetics #ScienceConference #ESHG #ESHG2025

The Pioneer Centre for SMARTbiomed will leverage large-scale, multimodal biomedical data combined with focused innovation in statistical and computational methods including machine learning to advance our understanding, treatment, and prevention of human disease.
Learn more about us: smartbiomed.dk

Christmas time, board game time!

Heavy lifting by Frank Geller in strong collaboration with Danish Blood Donor Study, Copenhagen Hospital Biobank, FinnGen, @estbiobank.bsky.social , Mass General Brigham Biobank, Statens Serum Institut.

Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants The host genetics of SARS-CoV-2 has previously been studied based on cases from the earlier waves of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, identifying 51 genomic loci associated with infection and/or severit...

New preprint out on genetic susceptibility to infection with Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. International GWAS meta-analysis discovers loci not found for earlier variants of the virus and indicates central role of glycosylation.
👇
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.21.24317689v1 The host genetics of SARS-CoV-2 has previously been studied based on cases from the earlier waves of

Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.21.24317689v1

Genome-wide analyses of neonatal jaundice reveal a marked departure from adult bilirubin metabolism - Nature Communications The underlying causes of neonatal jaundice are not well understood. Here, the authors identify genetic variants associated with neonatal jaundice, including a variant in the gene UGT1A, finding a dist...

A little bit late to the party, but our project on the genetics of neonatal jaundice has been finally published 👶
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It's a neat story and a rollercoster of unexpected findings 🤓🤓

How do the genetics of neonatal jaundice differentiate from those of adult bilirubin?

All set for some interesting weekend reading 🌱

Genome-wide analyses of neonatal jaundice reveal a marked departure from adult bilirubin metabolism - Nature Communications The underlying causes of neonatal jaundice are not well understood. Here, the authors identify genetic variants associated with neonatal jaundice, including a variant in the gene UGT1A, finding a dist...

Led by @polsolenavais.bsky.social & BoJacobsson: "Genome-wide analyses of neonatal jaundice reveal a marked departure from adult bilirubin metabolism". Contributed with Hakon Hakonarson & @jonathanbradfield.bsky.social locally.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Amazing methods-oriented PIONEER center of Biomedicine launching in DK and UK, led by Naomi Wray, @ceclindgren.bsky.social @bvilhjal.bsky.social Preben Bo Mortensen, Erin Gabriel, Chris Holmes, Peter Visscher

SMARTbiomed Oxford-Aarhus-Copenhagen collaboration smartbiomed.dk about to launch led by Naomi Wray. Lots of positions! Great opportunity to join Oxford Big Data Institute bdi.ox.ac.uk

Jobs 173031-3 at jobs.ox.ac.uk Methods-focussed in groups Holmes, Visscher, Evans,etc, Denmark ads soon.