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Dylan Williams

@dylwil.bsky.social

120 followers 150 following 46 posts

Alzheimer's Research UK Senior Fellow, University College London. Studying the molecular epidemiology of dementia.

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Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · 8d

Do any pre-print servers for biomedical sciences accept Perspective or Comment articles?

Most seem to refuse these types of M/S. I'd like to give some draft articles indexed / searchable presence whilst they get reviewed (& likely rejected) by journals, i.e. not just posting them to Github

Reposted by Dylan Williams

Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · 19d

Apply to do a PhD with me, Laura Corbin, Gareth Hawkes and George Davey Smith ( @mendelrandom.bsky.social) in Bristol on identifying rare effects on health using new and innovative methods. Amazing team, great educational environment, lovely city. Forward to your undergrads wrapping up!

Shining a light on the un-common to identify novel health risk-factors - GW4 BioMed MRC DTP

Project Code MRCPHS26Br Nivard Project Type Dry lab Research Theme Population Health Science Project Summary Download Summary Complex traits such as body mass index and height are influenced by a mixt...

gw4biomed.ac.uk

Reposted by Dylan Williams

Emma Anderson @emmylooroll.bsky.social · Sep 8

Last chance to sign up for our MR course next week folks!

Emma Anderson @emmylooroll.bsky.social · May 22

Our in-person Mendelian randomisation course is back at University College London this autumn. Join us in Bloomsbury, 16th-18th September 2025.

Tutors: Emma Anderson, Dylan Williams, Neil Davies
Guest lecturer: Eleanor Sanderson

onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk/conferences-...

D79 Mendelian Randomization | UCL Online Store

Abstract This course covers the fundamental developments in Mendelian randomization and gives practical explanations about how to apply MR to applied resea

onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 12

Alas, my data vis is not that pretty

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 12

Which is when by the way? I will come to Bristol for it if I haven't missed it!

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 12

That could be the title of your inaugural lecture?

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 12

@michelnivard.bsky.social you're at least a bluefin tuna of statistical genetics mate!

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 12

Just came across this graphical abstract for a paper. No idea what they were going for with the whale and rainbow, but at least it is very calming

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 1

Finally grappled w/ UKB-RAP to update a UK Biobank analysis in past week. Happy to report my sanity is (just about) still intact and I only wasted ~£8 of credit (£5 on a job left running overnight, £3 on other incompetence). Facilitated greatly by ukbrapR by @lcpilling.bsky.social, big thanks Luke!

Reposted by Dylan Williams

Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · Jul 30

I have an idea… journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Aug 1

@erictopol.bsky.social That is quite a strong conclusion to make from a subgroup analysis with N=29 from a phase 2 trial (and where, IMO, such large effect size stretches plausibility)

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Jul 22

Withdraw support for the current government of Israel

The Independent @the-independent.com · Jul 21

BREAKING | Israel depriving Gazans of ‘human dignity’, says UK and 25 other countries in call to end war now

UK and 25 other countries accuse Israel of depriving Gazans of ‘human dignity’

David Lammy has joined other foreign ministers in condemning the Israeli government for depriving Gazans "of human dignity" as they called on the war to "end now".

www.independent.co.uk

Reposted by Dylan Williams

The Independent @the-independent.com · Jul 21

BREAKING | Israel depriving Gazans of ‘human dignity’, says UK and 25 other countries in call to end war now

UK and 25 other countries accuse Israel of depriving Gazans of ‘human dignity’

David Lammy has joined other foreign ministers in condemning the Israeli government for depriving Gazans "of human dignity" as they called on the war to "end now".

www.independent.co.uk

Reposted by Dylan Williams

Emma Anderson @emmylooroll.bsky.social · Jun 25

Fabulous work by Phazha Bothongo!

2 years and several near mental breakdowns for us both in the making!

🧠 Causes and consequences of vascular dementia across the life course: Evidence from a UK Biobank phenome-wide and Mendelian randomization study 🧠

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

Causes and consequences of vascular dementia across the life course: Evidence from a UK Biobank phenome-wide and Mendelian randomization study

Background Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common cause of dementia, yet its risk factors and biological mechanisms remain poorly understood. Objective To identify causes and consequences ...

www.medrxiv.org

Reposted by Dylan Williams

Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jun 19

Are you looking to learn how to conduct and interpret Mendelian randomization studies?

You can register now for our in-person short course at UCL. With @emmylooroll.bsky.social and @dylwil.bsky.social

16th-18th September 2025.

Details here:

www.ucl.ac.uk/brain-scienc...

Mendelian randomization short course

This course covers the fundamental developments in Mendelian randomization and gives practical explanations about how to apply MR to applied research questions.

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Jun 11

I love this paper ... so many insights, inc importance of ubiquitous exposures, a clear explanation for flaws of heritability (and analysis of variance more generally), and clarification of differences in "causes of cases & causes of incidence" by Rose, which I always thought obtuse and misleading

Tom Yates @tomayates.bsky.social · Jun 10

Needed to revisit this great Neal Pearce paper today

'a factor that discourages investigation of near-ubiquitous risk factors is the continued misuse of measures such as the percentage of population variation explained to identify ‘major’ risk factors for disease, genetic or non-genetic'

#EpiSky

Epidemiology in a changing world: variation, causation and ubiquitous risk factors

Abstract. We are all living in the era of globalization and, like it or not, it is going to change the way we practise epidemiology, the kinds of questions

academic.oup.com

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · May 27

Arising for a few reasons inc little incidence in 'unexposed' group (e2 homozygotes), limited outcome ascertainment in the cohort, imprecision for PAFs at each exposure level aggregating. Less problematic considering large point estimates for the PAFs produced every time (and a strong prior here)

Reposted by Dylan Williams

Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · May 19

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...

investor.regeneron.com

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 28

...Some feedback from last year’s course:
“The entire course was excellent. Lots of helpful information, engaging content, very helpful and detailed practicals.”

“The course leaders were all super helpful, very kind and very knowledgeable - it was a great atmosphere.”

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 28

..This covers one-sample and two-sample approaches, sensitivity analyses including pleiotropy-robust methods, multivariable MR for mediation and interaction, within-family MR, MR-PheWAS and drug target MR...

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 28

Our in-person Mendelian randomisation course is back at University College London this autumn. Join us in Bloomsbury, 16th-18th September 2025.

Tutors: Emma Anderson, Dylan Williams, Neil Davies
Guest lecturer: Eleanor Sanderson

onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk/conferences-...

D79 Mendelian Randomization | UCL Online Store

Abstract This course covers the fundamental developments in Mendelian randomization and gives practical explanations about how to apply MR to applied resea

onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 25

...many component causes of AD either directly interact or converge on the same mechanisms. So attributable fractions for them overlap and adding up combinations of can quickly sum to more than 100%. I.e. AD causes are not mutually exclusive slices of risk

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 24

... And ii) this is NOT how to interpret attributable fractions for risk factors. There are plenty of other causes that account for attributable risk of AD, most notably APOE. You can't subtract fractions for a given risk factor or combo from 100% to yield "unexplained risk"

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 24

Dislike this statement about AD by CARE programme grant invitation from @wellcomeleap.bsky.social and Lisa Mosconi. i) Commonplace misconception that "genetics = unmodifiable"...

#episky #medsky

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 15

...Not least that something could be as common as e3 is and not be benign