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Reposted by Neil Davies

Tim Morris @timtmorris.bsky.social · Sep 3

Our data resource profile paper outlining the imputed & QC'd genomewide genetic data in 5 British cohort studies is now out in IJE. Data are free to access and the cohorts are deeply phenotyped... huge opportunities for amazing cross-cohort longitudinal research

academic.oup.com/ije/article/...

Data Resource Profile: Genomic data in multiple British birth cohorts (1946–2001)—linkage with health, social, and environmental data from birth to old age

Birth cohort studies have a rich history of contributing to science within and between disciplinary fields, notably health and social sciences [1–4]. Here,

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Neil Davies

Prof Alexandra Pitman @alexandrapitman.bsky.social · Aug 28

⏰Post-doctoral #qualitative job alert! (closes 14/9/25).
@uclpsychiatry.bsky.social is recruiting for a #Qualitative Post‑Doctoral Research Associate to join our #suicide & #selfharm research team on a @nihr.bsky.social grant investigating acceptability of close obs www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

We're hiring! Join us on the incredible Adolescent Health Study — we're looking for two brilliant researchers to help shape and grow this exciting project. Deadline: 28 August. Questions? Get in touch.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOB253/s...

(Senior) Research Officer (x2 posts) at Adolescent Health Study (AHS)

Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

Work led by Liam Wright, with Gemma Shireby, @timtmorris.bsky.social, and @davidbann.bsky.social.

Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

7/ Our study highlights the power of family-based designs to clarify intergenerational effects—and reminds us that both genes and environments matter.

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

6/ We also found evidence that maternal BMI was associated with offspring birthweight and adolescent dietary patterns, even after adjusting for inherited genetic liability.

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

5/ Maternal BMI, however, still showed a strong association with child BMI, even after adjusting for transmission. We estimated maternal indirect effects (via environment) to be ~25–50% the size of the direct genetic effect.

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

4/ In MR models, there was little evidence that paternal BMI predicted offspring BMI after accounting for direct genetic inheritance. This suggests the paternal BMI-offspring BMI association may be explained by direct inheritance genes, not the paternal environment.

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

3/ Phenotypically, both maternal and paternal BMI were positively associated with offspring BMI across development. The effects were similar in size—but correlation doesn’t tell us about causality or mechanisms.

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

2/ We used Mendelian Randomization with polygenic indices (PGIs) in mothers, fathers, and children to separate direct genetic effects from other indirect effects such as nurture—i.e., environmental influences shaped by parents’ genetics.

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Aug 6

1/ Parents with higher BMI tend to have kids with higher BMI—but why? Is it the genes they pass on, or the environment they create? Or both? We used trio data from MCS to help answer this longstanding question.

journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

The association between parental BMI and offspring adiposity: A genetically informed analysis of trios

Author summary Children with obesity are more likely to have parents with obesity, too. This may be explained by environmental factors, such as prenatal conditions in utero or postnatal parental behav...

journals.plos.org

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jul 18

I’m hiring- info in the link below, or get in touch if interested

📣 JOB OPPORTUNITY!
💻 Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow in Population Health/Data Science/Genetic Epidemiology

Developing a new Wellcome-funded ALSPAC Olink Explore HT resource

Deadline 15/08/25

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jul 17

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNR789/e...

Engagement and Involvement Lead at Adolescent Health Study (AHS)

Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Reposted by Neil Davies

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

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Reposted by Neil Davies

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

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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.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jun 18

Do get in touch with me if you'd like to know more.

Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jun 18

*Position 2*: Causes of depression, anxiety and ADHD working with colleagues across UCL, the amazing Born in Bradford, Millenium Cohort Study and the MoBA study in Norway, with collaborations in Bristol and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

1

Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jun 18

Position 1: Causes of psychosis using new Olink HT proteomics data from ALSPAC, funded by Wellcome, with collaborations with Bath, Cardiff, Oxford and Cambridge universities.

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

1

Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Jun 18

Looking for your next research position? We're recruiting two genetic epidemiologists to work on two projects at the Division of Psychiatry at UCL, part of the growing UCL Human Genomics group.

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Reposted by Neil Davies

Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com · Jun 10

This study uncovered several genetic associations linked to environmental sensitivity in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental traits, using data from over 21,000 MZ twins @munroepb.bsky.social @thaliaeley.bsky.social @neilmdavies.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Genetics of monozygotic twins reveals the impact of environmental sensitivity on psychiatric and neurodevelopmental phenotypes - Nature Human Behaviour

This study uncovered genetic associations with environmental sensitivity in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental traits in an international collaboration using data from more than 21,000 monozygotic twi...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Neil Davies

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

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Reposted by Neil Davies

Emma Anderson @emmylooroll.bsky.social · Apr 23

*NEW PREPRINT*
Awesome work by Victoria Taylor-Bateman examining the effects of 46 different lipid-lowering, antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory drug targets on risk of vascular dementia diagnosis and several neuroimaging biomarkers of cerebrovascular pathology. A thread :-)
shorturl.at/ecCD0

Repurposing drugs for the prevention of vascular dementia: Evidence from drug target Mendelian randomization

shorturl.at

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Reposted by Neil Davies

Dylan Williams @dylwil.bsky.social · Apr 14

One year later ... a major update to our manuscript showing that most Alzheimer's disease is attributable to the gene APOE. We expanded it to analyses of four studies, now with data on about 460,000 people in total.....
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Alzheimers #Dementia #Epidemiology #EpiSky

The proportion of Alzheimer's disease attributable to apolipoprotein E

Objective To estimate the proportions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and all-cause dementia burden attributable to the common risk alleles ε3 and ε4 in the APOE gene Design Genetic association analyses i...

www.medrxiv.org

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Neil Davies @neilmdavies.bsky.social · Mar 27

💡 Why join us?
Salary: £38,249–£45,413
Full-time (3 years, plus potential extension)
Great career development and networking opportunities

📍 Apply now: Deadline April 6th.
Be part of ground-breaking research!

Get in touch if you've any questions or would like to discuss.