University Lecturer in Integrative Human Genomics
Email: dsp35@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1223 761918
ResearchGate | ORCID | PubMed
Background
Dirk graduated with a BSc and MSc in Life Science from the University of Konstanz (Germany) in 2008. During his studies at University, he gained experience in molecular biology and genomics approaches at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin, Germany), A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering & Nanotechnology (Singapore), Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG (Biberach, Germany) and at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (Oxford, UK). In 2012, Dirk completed a PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics as a Marie Curie PhD Fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and University of Cambridge, where he applied experimental and computational methods to aid the identification of functional variants associated with blood cell and cardiovascular traits. Following postdoctoral studies in epigenomics of immune-related diseases as part of the BLUEPRINT Consortium at University College London, he joined the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit as University Lecturer in Integrative Human Genomics in 2015.
Research Interests
The mission of the Integrative Human Genomics Team is to identify and characterise causal biological pathways in cardiovascular disease. We integrate systematic bioinformatics approaches and cutting-edge experimental strategies in cellular models and humans to uncover molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms underlying genetic association signals with the disease. Find out more about the Team on our website.
Selected Recent Publications
*joint first author, #joint last author
Paige E*, Clément M*, Lareyre F, Sweeting M, Raffort J, Grenier C, Finigan A, Harrison J, […], Freitag DF#, Paul DS# & Mallat Z# (2019). Interleukin-6 receptor signalling and abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rates. Circ. Genom. Precis. Med. 12(2), e002413.
Alasoo K, Rodrigues J, Danesh J, Freitag DF, Paul DS# & Gaffney DJ# (2019). Genetic effects on promoter usage are highly context-specific and contribute to complex traits. eLife 8, e41673.
Stacey D, Fauman EB, Ziemek D, Sun BB, Harshfield EL, Wood AM, Butterworth AS, Suhre K & Paul DS (2019). ProGeM: a framework for the prioritization of candidate causal genes at molecular quantitative trait loci. Nucleic Acids Res. 47(1), e3.
Sun BB*, Maranville JC*, Peters JE*, Stacey D, Staley JR, Blackshaw J, Burgess S, Jiang T, […], Paul DS, Fox CS, Plenge RM, Danesh J, Runz H# & Butterworth AS# (2018). Genomic atlas of the human plasma proteome. Nature 558(7708), 73-9.
Farahi N*, Paige E*, Balla J, Prudence E, Ferreira RC, Southwood M, Appleby SL, Bakke P, […], Danesh J, Paul DS, Freitag DF# & Chilvers ER# (2017). Neutrophil-mediated IL-6 receptor trans-signaling and the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Hum. Mol. Genet. 26(8), 1584-96.
Ecker E, Chen L, Pancaldi V, Bagger FO, Fernández JM, Carrillo de Santa Pau E, Juan D, Mann AL, […], Rico D#, Valencia A#, Beck S#, Soranzo N# & Paul DS# (2017). Genome-wide analysis of differential transcriptional and epigenetic variability across human immune cell types. Genome Biol. 18(1), 18.
Chen L*, Ge B*, Casale FP*, Vasquez L*, Kwan T, Garrido-Martín D, Watt S, Yang Y, […], Paul DS, Stunnenberg HG, Stegle O, Downes K, Pastinen T# & Soranzo N# (2016). Genetic drivers of epigenetic and transcriptional variation in human immune cells. Cell 167(5), 1398–1414.
Paul DS*, Teschendorff AE*, Dang MA*, Lowe R*, Hawa MI, Ecker S, Beyan H, Cunningham S, […], Rakyan VK#, Beck S# & Leslie RD# (2016). Increased DNA methylation variability in type 1 diabetes across three immune effector cell types. Nature Commun. 7, 13555.