College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Inaugural Lecture Showcase

McEwan Hall, Teviot Place, Edinburgh
Friday 24 April, 5pm - 7.30pm
 

Join Professors Kenneth Baillie and Jim Wilson from CMVM as they share their career and research journeys so far.

Professor Kenneth Baillie is a clinician–scientist whose career has transformed host genomics in infectious disease. He pioneered new machine-learning approaches to functional annotation and evidence synthesis, led open-source global preparations for outbreak research, and built the largest consented research study in the history of critical care medicine. He discovered important biological mechanisms underlying influenza and hepatitis. His discovery of causal evidence that TYK2 protein drives lung inflammation in life-threatening Covid-19 led directly to the finding that TYK2-inhibitor, baricitinib, saved critically-ill patients' lives - the first time a host genetic variant has led to an effective drug treatment for any infectious disease.

Professor Jim Wilson has a long-standing interest in the population genetics of the British Isles, where he was first to identify Norse Viking genetic influences in his native Orkney over 20 years ago. His research seeks to understand the genetic influences on disease risk, particularly in isolated populations. He leads the Viking Genes studies of >10,000 volunteers from Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides. His recent work focusses on “actionable” genetic findings such as breast, ovarian and prostate cancer risk variants, and the preventative medicine opportunities arising through population-wide genetic screening among Scottish islanders.