Caroline Wright

Curiosity underlies a breakthrough in rare disease We must recognise and protect the pipelines that lead from research to real-world benefit

Both translational and fundamental curiosity-driven research are needed to fuel the incredible progress we're seeing in genomic medicine; an important message in this article and and some lovely quotes from @sarahlwynn.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/25dd...

Pretty excited about giving Talos a try in the NHS @rdexeter.bsky.social‬. We should definitely be doing regular reanalysis of existing genome-wide sequencing data, just need the right tools!

So agree with this - Alphafold models are really fantastic for genomics researchers because they make mapping genetic variants so much simpler! But high-resolution experimental protein structures still offer important extra detail and accuracy, particularly for complexes, ligands, PTMs, etc.

Last day of #ESHG25 #ESHG2025, make sure to catch two fantastic back-to-back talks from @hls.exeter.ac.uk @drghawkes.bsky.social describing whole genome association analysis and meta-analysis across >500,000 people (Tuesday 11:15 & 11:30, C32)

OK, I'm starting to get #ESHG25 FOMO now! Those of you who are there should check out a poster from our group @hls.exeter.ac.uk investigating penetrance of variants in TSC1 & TSC2, with implications for newborn genome screening.(P15.033.D - pop by for a chat Monday 4-5pm)

At #ESHG25, make sure to hear the fantastic @chundru.bsky.social speak about characterizing genome-wide de novo mutations in control populations versus rare disease cases (Monday 11:15, C29), part of the work we're doing in paradigmgenomics.org

At #ESHG25, check out today's workshop with @jamesfasham.bsky.social to learn about the amazing @deciphergenomics.bsky.social‬ (Sunday 14:15, W10)

Got a big showing of talented University of Exeter scientists with talks and posters at ESHG25 in Milan. Come along and find out more! @hls.exeter.ac.uk @exeter.ac.uk #ESHG25 @jamesfasham.bsky.social @jingzhan.bsky.social @ambermluckett.bsky.social @chundru.bsky.social @harrygreentkd.bsky.social

Scalable automated reanalysis of genomic data in research and clinical rare disease cohorts Reanalysis of genomic data in rare disease is highly effective in increasing diagnostic yields but remains limited by manual approaches. Automation and optimization for high specificity will be necess...

🤗 Hugely excited to share our work on automating iterative reanalysis in #raredisease, preprint out: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🤖🧬

github.com/populationge...

A superb collaboration with @dgmacarthur.bsky.social @cassimons.bsky.social @heidirehm.bsky.social @ksamocha.bsky.social and many more!

Fascinating insights into embryonic life from a very productive collaboration between DECIPHER and MuzHaniffa and her talented team @mhaniffa.bsky.social

⬇️ again. I feel the need to re-post this point pretty much every week! Benign variants are not low penetrance.

"Remember that it's not only scientists that read your papers" - sage advice from author of a beautiful poem 'Proband', which began life as a response to our DDD NEJM paper, linking genomic science and its patients. www.consilience-journal.com/issue-17-pro...

Genetics, objectivity and a defence of DEI Genetics, both past and present, demonstrates a simple fact. DEI makes our science better.

A new post by me where I argue that genetics, both past and present, demonstrates a simple fact. DEI makes our science better.

open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Come and work with us - 2 Graduate Research Assistant positions available in genomic medicine, with a particular focus on variant interpretation and data analysis. Part of the Wellcome-funded PARADIGM project, and based in beautiful Exeter UK! jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

This is sad not just for genomics in the US, but across the world: Eric has been an incredibly effective global champion for the power of genomics and the impact of genomic medicine.

Lungfish xkcd.com/3064

Excellent trip to Sheffield for the UK Clinical Genetics Society Conference and National Dysmorphology Meeting. Lots of new ideas, lovely catching up with colleagues, and a bonus weekend walking in the sunny Peak District!

<blushes>... thanks Jeff, that's very kind 😊

Some very moving stories in "More than you can imagine: an anthology of rare experiences", compiled by Genetic Alliance UK to mark #RareDiseaseDay 2025, geneticalliance.org.uk/campaigns-an...

Nice #RareDiseaseDay blog from @mehurles.bsky.social outlining the importance of genetics and genomics in rare disease for discovery, diagnosis and treatment.

Fantastically useful clinically-curated resource of structured monogenic gene-disease associations, including inheritance and disease mechanisms.

Exciting times for genomics research @exeter.ac.uk @nihrexeterbrc.bsky.social! 🧬 New preprint from the team: using large-scale WGS from @ukbiobank.bsky.social and All of Us shows convergence between rare and common genetic associations, with implications for genetic architecture of complex traits.

Fascinating day @cpmoxford.bsky.social yesterday discussing genome sequencing in newborn screening. Lots of complexities, loads of new ideas, and lovely to see so many colleagues! Thanks @alucassen.bsky.social @rachel-horton.bsky.social and all the organisers.

Yeah that would be cool, particularly using AlphaFold data to look at accessible surfaces and binding pockets

Thanks! We don't know for sure, though did discuss this point at length. I think every protein is targeted by two antibodies though, so the binding shouldn't be massively affected by missense assuming the domain is still folded.

My favourite figure from this paper: unlike coding variants, rare non-coding variants are almost equally likely to increase or decrease circulating protein levels. Thanks to @ukbiobank.bsky.social for genomic and proteomic data!

Fabulous few days at the 9th biannual course on Clinical Genomics: Fundamentals of Variant Interpretation 🧬 #ClinicalGen25 @eventswcs.bsky.social. Some great discussions and plenty of food for thought!

Did you find it? Would be interested to see if so... we've seen overall conservation relatively higher, and pLDDT lower, at N and C terminus, surprisingly.

In person only I think, cpm.ox.ac.uk/event/newbor...

Looking forward to some interesting discussions about newborn genome screening at this @cpmoxford.bsky.social event next month!