Honorary Visiting Fellow
Email: dsp35@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @dirk_paul
ResearchGate | ORCID | PubMed
Background
Dr Paul graduated with a BSc and MSc in Life Science from the University of Konstanz (Germany) in 2008. With the support of Marie Curie and Wellcome Trust Fellowships, Dr Paul completed a PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics under the supervision of Prof Panos Deloukas at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in 2012, where he combined experimental and computational approaches to uncover the molecular mechanisms of genetic variants associated with haematological traits. He did postdoctoral studies in epigenomics of immune-related diseases in Prof Stephan Beck’s laboratory at University College London as part of the BLUEPRINT Consortium. In 2015, Dr Paul joined the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit as University Lecturer in Integrative Genomics. His research group focused on the translation of genomic discoveries in cardiovascular and immune-related diseases into biological and clinical insights. In 2019, Dr Paul joined the Centre for Genomics Research at AstraZeneca as Senior Director of the Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic (CVRM) Therapeutic Area. In this role, Dr Paul is responsible for identifying new therapeutic targets, uncovering biological mechanisms that can be exploited for medicine development, and driving precision medicine strategies using genomics and data science approaches. He is a strong advocate for interdisciplinary collaborations across academia and industry to drive research innovation and improve outcomes for patients.
Research Interests
Dr Paul’s research interests are in the translation of genetic discoveries into molecular mechanisms and precision medicines for cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases.
Selected Publications
*joint first author, #joint last author
Understanding of disease mechanism:
Stacey D*, Chen L*, […], Chilvers ER, Danesh J & Paul DS (2022). Elucidating mechanisms of genetic cross-disease associations at the PROCR vascular disease locus. Nature Commun. 13(1), 1222.
Paige E*, Clément M*, […], Freitag DF#, Paul DS# & Mallat Z# (2019). Interleukin-6 receptor signalling and abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rates. Circ. Genom. Precis. Med. 12(2), e002413.
Therapeutic target prioritisation:
Nag A*, Dhindsa RS*, […], Paul DS, Bohlooly-Y M, Snowden M, Baker D, Fritsche-Danielson R, Pangalos MN & Petrovski S (2022). Human genetics uncovers MAP3K15 as an obesity-independent therapeutic target for diabetes. Sci. Adv. 8(46), eadd5430.
Lemmelä S*, Wigmore EM*, […], Kinnunen M, Paul DS# & Matakidou A (2022). Integrated analyses of growth differentiation factor-15 concentration and cardiometabolic diseases in humans. eLife 11, e76272.
Genomic discovery:
Povysil G, […], Paul DS, Granger CB, Kjekshus J, Aggarwal V, Haefliger C & Goldstein DB (2021). Assessing the role of rare genetic variation in patients with heart failure. JAMA Cardiol. 6(4), 379-386.
Sun BB*, Maranville JC*, Peters JE*, […], 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.
Epigenomics:
Ecker E, […], 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*, […], 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.