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Samira Asgari

@samiraasgari.bsky.social

83 followers 83 following 37 posts

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. Scientist, Computational biologist. Asst. Prof. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 🧬. Alum. Harvard Medical School 🇺🇸, EPFL🇨🇭, University of Tehran 🇮🇷

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Aug 12

Lab news 🎉 We’ve received a 5-year, $2.3M award from NIH/NIGMS to leverage large-scale biobanks and build a data-driven approach to understanding sepsis biology and risk.

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 8d

Biomedical sciences need more comprehensive disease risk models that assess all potential risk factors together. Our work contributes to this effort, showing the power of integrating social determinants of health into risk models for more equitable and accurate prediction.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 8d

What we found:
- Including social, behavioral & environmental context in disease risk models consistently improved prediction.
- Their contribution often outweighed polygenic risk.
- Genetic and non-genetic risks act largely additively (little interaction effect at the level we examined).

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 8d

Then, using data from >170,000 All of Us biobank participants, we asked how adding these profiles changes disease risk prediction and modifies the impact of genetic risk.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 8d

First, we developed a scalable framework that distills hundreds of lifestyle, environmental, and social measures into clear, independent profiles that can be used to assess disease risk on their own or alongside genetic scores.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 8d

Preprint alert 📜: How do social, behavioral, and environmental factors combine with genetics to shape risk for common diseases?

In our new work, led by senior bioinformatician Jane Brown, we sought to answer this question.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

A Scalable Framework to Integrate Social Determinants of Health into Disease Risk Models using Biobank Survey Data

Complex diseases are a major global health burden, yet our ability to predict who is at risk remains limited. Risk is shaped by both heritable factors and non-genetic environmental, behavioral, and so...

www.medrxiv.org

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 22d

If you are @cellpress.bsky.social #CSPrecisionGen25 conference don’t miss the talk by my brilliant PhD student Abhijith Biji. He will share our latest findings on human genomics study of 99 infectious disease phenotypes in ~800k individuals.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 23d

While these are initial findings from a small cohort, they suggest that diversity in lifetime viral exposures may be an underappreciated factor influencing individual variability in responses to infections, vaccines, and inflammatory triggers.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 23d

Additionally, we observed a measurable imprint on future innate cytokine production after past infection with viruses such as HSV-1 and HSV-2.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 23d

What we found:
Strong protein-level immunodominance to viral surface proteins.
Striking individual variability at the epitope level (even within the same proteins)

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 23d

To link past viral infections with future innate immune responses, we combined VirScan (which measures antibody responses to past viral infections), with Olink proteomics after ex vivo TLR stimulation of blood samples.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 23d

Preprint alert📜: How do lifetime viral exposures shape our immune system response to future infections? 🦠🧬

We explore this question in our new preprint, led by postdoc
Chad Hogan.

biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#SystemsImmunology #Immunology #Virology #Infection #HostResponse

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · 29d

Another two weeks, another MindShift issue; this one packed with updates on advancing clinical trials and new opportunities for psychedelics beyond the Global North.

MindShiftNews @mindshiftnews.bsky.social · 29d

Former NFL players turn to psilocybin & ayahuasca to heal concussion damage. Does the science back it up?

Discover this story and all the latest updates on psychedelics legalization, markets, and research in our newest issue.

#psychedelics #mentalhealth #neuroplasticity

mindshift.news/p/mindshift

MindShift

Learn how a single dose of LSD provided lasting relief for patients with generalized anxiety disorder, why NFL athletes are turning to ayahuasca, and how a Trump-supporting billionaire took control of...

mindshift.news

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Sep 2

Starting the academic year with a trip to Yale. Looking forward to sharing how large biobanks and real-world data are reshaping our understanding of infectious disease genomics, and to the conversations ahead!

Reposted by Samira Asgari

Mount Sinai Institute for Genomic Health @sinaigenhealth.bsky.social · Aug 27

Congrats to @ashleyrichardson.bsky.social from the lab of @samiraasgari.bsky.social for being selected to give a lightning talk and poster presentation at #ASHG2025 on her work exploring the role of somatic mutations in Biobank-scale data as a cause of inborn errors of immunity!

#GenomicHealth

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Aug 16

🤩What a nice surprise to see @mindshiftnews.bsky.social mentioned by @jeanabbiateci.bsky.social, seasoned journalist and founder of the award-winning newsletter bulletin.fr.

Curious? Read our latest issue: bit.ly/4oCg22F
Want to support us? Subscribe (free, ad-free): mindshift.news/subscribe

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Aug 12

While sepsis is our starting point, our broader goal is to apply this whole-human, multi-omic lens to other infectious and immune-mediated diseases.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Aug 12

Our immune response is shaped by inherited variants, somatic mutations, cell- and tissue-specific functions, environmental exposures, and social and behavioral factors. This award will allow us to study how these layers interact.

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Aug 12

Lab news 🎉 We’ve received a 5-year, $2.3M award from NIH/NIGMS to leverage large-scale biobanks and build a data-driven approach to understanding sepsis biology and risk.

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Jul 3

I just learned that Americans call some chalky, non-chocolatey!, pale candies ‘Smarties’ 😱 and they have no idea what they’re missing. Europeans, you know what I mean.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Jun 23

Back in Boston for #FOGBoston and excited to share our latest work! Using #Genomics, clinical data, and #RealWorldEvidence from three large #Biobanks, we identified hundreds of novel genetic risk loci for #InfectiousDiseases. If you're around or want to chat, let’s connect!

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Reposted by Samira Asgari

Eimear Kenny @eimearekenny.bsky.social · Jun 17

📢 Just posted: Our preprint introducing SPC — Spectral Components — is now live on medRxiv!

Led by Dr. Ruhollah Shemirani and years in the making, this method offers a robust, scalable way to adjust for recent population structure in genomic analyses.
🔗 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

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SPC: a SPectral Component approach to address recent population structure in genomic analysis

Population structure is a well-known confounder in statistical genetics, particularly in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), where it can lead to inflated test statistics and spurious associations...

www.medrxiv.org

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Jun 2

@sinaigenhealth.bsky.social @sinaigenetics.bsky.social

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Jun 2

Excited to be in beautiful Madison, visiting colleagues @uwmadison.bsky.social! I’ll be sharing our recent work using three large-scale biobanks to advance understanding of the human genomics of infectious diseases. Looking forward to a full day of science and fun!

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Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Apr 11

I asked #ChatGPT: Based on my prompts so far, describe me in 20 words.

The answer: Data-driven, sharp-tongued scientist blending genomics, AI, and storytelling. Strategic thinker, clear writer, playful observer—always chasing impact, never fluff.

I think we're in a relationship.

Samira Asgari @samiraasgari.bsky.social · Mar 8

To women who lead, inspire, mentor, break barriers, and lift others as they rise - thank you for shaping the future! 🥂💜

#WomenMentors #IWD #InternationalWomensDay

Many thanks to @NaturePortfolio for giving us an opportunity to acknowledge some of the women who inspire us.

Nature @nature.com · Mar 8

Six award-winning female scientists highlight women who have inspired them by pushing innovative research and creating opportunities for others

#IWD #InternationalWomensDay

https://go.nature.com/43w9Voe

Behind every great woman in science, there’s another great woman in science

Nature - To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, six award-winning female scientists highlight women who have inspired them by pushing innovative research and creating opportunities for others.

go.nature.com

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