Brooke Wolford, PhD
@bnwolford.bsky.social
330 followers 290 following 68 posts
Statistical geneticist and data scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow. 🇺🇸 in 🇳🇴. Previously UMich, NHGRI, UNC, NCSSM. 🫀🧬 she/her http://brookewolford.com
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bnwolford.bsky.social
🥼 Our wonderful colleagues in the Shavit lab, especially Queena Zhao, induced thrombosis in zebrafish after CRISPR/Cas9 knockdown of 6 genes. This provided supportive evidence for the role of RASIP1 and TC2N in the modification of human VTE.
bnwolford.bsky.social
🧬 During the first iteration of the Global Biobank Meta-analysis (led by Wei Zhou) we took a deep-dive into the VTE GWAS results to prioritize causal genes at the 38 significant loci using integrative bioinformatic gene prioritization.
bnwolford.bsky.social
I'm excited to *finally* share my recent article in Blood Advances, "Multi-population GWAS for venous thromboembolism identifies novel loci followed by experimental validation in zebrafish." Special thanks to Ida Surakka, Jordan Shavit, and Cristen Willer for supervision.

doi.org/10.1182/bloo...
bnwolford.bsky.social
I'm up early on Central Europe Time to w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶A̶S̶H̶G̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ celebrate The Life of a Showgirl album drop! ❤️‍🔥
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
needhibhalla.bsky.social
"For scientists, shutdowns can cause significant delays in research outcomes, can cause financial uncertainty for more than just those directly involved, and increase the loss of institutional knowledge from employees that leave...a huge impact on how competitive the U.S. R&D enterprise can be."
Research on R&D Funding: Impacts of Federal Shutdowns | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
www.aaas.org
bnwolford.bsky.social
Pleased to share our work on the genetics of diagnosed and undiagnosed celiac disease from the HUNT Study. This was led by Eivind Ness Jensen, Rebecka Hjort, and PhD Candidate Sayeef Alam. 🧬

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Genetic differences between diagnosed and undiagnosed Celiac disease: a population-based study - Human Genetics
A large proportion of individuals with celiac disease (CeD) remain undiagnosed, often presenting at an older age of onset or with non-classical symptoms compared to diagnosed cases. Such heterogeneity might be related to genetic factors. The aim was to utilize a CeD-screened adult population to compare the genetic variants in known and newly diagnosed cases. In the fourth wave of the population-based Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4) 826 CeD and 51,516 non-CeD individuals were included. Medical registries identified 361 previously diagnosed cases, while screening identified 465 new cases. A validated polygenic risk score (PRS) was used to assess the genetic risk of CeD among the two case groups versus non-CeD individuals. Additional genetic variants not included in the PRS were also analyzed. The PRS distinguished cases from non-cases with high accuracy (AUROC: 85% for known cases, 83% for new cases). The genetic variation explained by the PRS was similar for known and new cases (17.1% versus 14.5%). The odds ratio for being in the highest genetic risk group (top 10%) was 22.7 (95% CI 14.1–36.4) for known cases and 18.6 (95% CI 12.4–27.9) for new cases versus the median group (40%-60%). Differences in effect size among specific genome-wide variants were observed but were not significantly associated with CeD. A validated PRS showed significant genetic difference between CeD cases and the general population, with similar association in both known and newly diagnosed cases. This suggests that genetic architectures of the two groups are comparable, implying that other non-genetic factors may drive CeD in adults.
link.springer.com
bnwolford.bsky.social
🤦🏻‍♀️
ohdearz.bsky.social
Ohio State just advised all staff and students not to attend the SACNAS (Society for the advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting of 6000+ scientists -- which is in Columbus, OH this year! -- saying it may be exclusionary, even though it is open to all.
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
needhibhalla.bsky.social
"the benefits of NIH research in general are wide and diffuse. A very large number of advances—roughly one in two during the 21st century—are linked to NIH grants that are cut in our counterfactual scenario."
bnwolford.bsky.social
My doctoral work was supported by the GRFP, and it is a critical part of the graduate training ecosystem in the US.
jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social
Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.

The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/
An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
jasonjwilliamsny.github.io
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
jeremymberg.bsky.social
All my emails to Director Bhattacharya now available...

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...
Cover of "Fifty Shades of 'Jay'" with emails from Jeremy M. Berg to NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya.
bnwolford.bsky.social
Congrats to Fikria Karinanur for successfully defending her Master's thesis in Clinical Health Sciences last week. We were also so pleased to host @cnspracklen.bsky.social as the external censor.
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
belongia.bsky.social
"No vaccine was tested more extensively than the RNA vaccines, and no vaccine was given to more people than the mRNA vaccines, & they were found to be incredibly safe...and effective. They saved 20 million lives, & they stopped a pandemic that was shutting down the world."
-Drew Weissman
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
colincarlson.bsky.social
🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"Health losses attributed to anthropogenic climate change," a brief communication in the journal Nature Climate Change. There's a map showing regions of the world, and pie charts of relevant studies as they apply to different health impacts like "heat-related deaths" and "maternal and child health"
bnwolford.bsky.social
The co-worker at my home office is great, but she likes to drink my coffee when I leave my desk. My co-worker is a basenji.
Basenji sitting in an office chair looking guilty
bnwolford.bsky.social
This could very easily have been me as I was invited to complete this same service this year but was unable to for other reasons. Not to mention this type of work is expected for career advancement. Helt forferdelig!
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
jessicacalarco.com
In the US, the work of keeping kids safe falls to families, usually moms. That responsibility makes moms hypervigilant about potential threats. Which can lead them to trust fear over reason. And which is why RFK Jr. is pushing the lie that Covid vaccines killed kids.

arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
RFK Jr.’s CDC may limit COVID shots to 75 and up, claim they killed kids
A battle is brewing over mRNA vaccines, which could intensify backlash against Kennedy.
arstechnica.com
bnwolford.bsky.social
Just caught myself planning how to optimally split my work days across multiple projects while listening to the audiobook of “Work Won’t Love You Back” by Sarah Jaffe. Struck by the absolute irony. 🙃
Reposted by Brooke Wolford, PhD
jama.com
JAMA @jama.com · 25d
Active shooter drills are now near-universal in US schools.

Although they’re an important aspect of emergency preparedness, they may also cause some students psychological distress.

ja.ma/3Kknbor
JAMA medical news report: "New Report on School Active Shooter Drills Weighs Psychological Effects" by Lauren Schneider. Published online September 5, 2025. Article information and author affiliations provided.
bnwolford.bsky.social
Shout out to @audreydrotos.bsky.social, @kelly.sova.cool, and Katie Furman for their hard work launching @your.neighborhoodscientist.org!

You can donate to their non-profit here:
neighborhoodscientist.org