Goncalo Abecasis

If you could read the DNA of half a million people, would you do it and why? Would it work? What would you learn? To answer this and several related questions, let me walk you through the work my @RegeneronDNA colleagues just published in Nature. 1/24 nature.com/articles/s4158…

This week's news podcast features Doug Weir (@ceobs_org) on the impact of conflict on health and the environment; @gabecasis (@Regeneron) on gene variants and smoking; Viktoria Eleftheriadou (BAD) on vitiligo; and Daniel Harris (@Penn) on Neanderthals thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked…

Red is delayed. LaGuardia today. 1/67 flights is on time.

@skathire @VerveTx @EliLillyandCo What a whirlwind, Sek! Congratulations on this milestone and I hope PCSK9 gene editing will be one of many demonstrations that genetic medicines can save millions of lives.

Today, we are thrilled to announce that @VerveTx has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by @EliLillyandCo From 2018 to 2025, Verve moved a new concept (a one-dose future for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) and a new medical technology (in vivo base editing) to positive initial data in patients, recently showing that our lead asset – VERVE-102 targeting PCSK9 – has the potential to deeply and durably lower blood low-density lipoprotein cholesterol after a single intravenous infusion. Now, we have an opportunity to take the next phase of this journey for VERVE-102 (further clinical development in Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials, regulatory approval and ultimately, commercialization) as well as the rest of our pipeline with an ideal strategic partner in Lilly. Lilly shares our vision and we believe their global research, clinical, regulatory and commercial capabilities will help accelerate the development of our novel class of single-course gene editing medicines that will change the treatment paradigm for the millions of patients worldwide living with cardiovascular disease. My deepest thanks to the entire Verve team for their expertise, creativity and grit. We are grateful to the investigators and patients who have contributed to the success of our clinical trials so far. @VerveTx + @EliLillyandCo should emerge as a powerful combination, given their complementary cardiometabolic health capabilities, to create a novel class of single-course gene editing medicines that make life better for people around the world. Details of transaction here: investor.lilly.com/news-releases/… $VERV $LLY

@euanashley What a loss, for his family and all of us. He indeed gave legendary talks and had a ludicrous amount of energy and vision. May @atulbutte’s memory be a blessing.

Atul Butte died yesterday. The world lost a giant. A big bear of a man. With a huge smile. With love for everyone. With energy that could power a room. I loved everything about Atul. I loved how he was always happy. I loved how excited he was about science and helping people.

On a scientific level, very few teams have successfully organized genetic studies of millions of people and conducted meaningful analyses at this scale. Certainly seemed impossible my career was starting and we had not sequenced even 1 genome. What a dream team! 4/4

Equally important, continuing the personal genetics business means that the challenge and mission of communicating information about health and disease to customers will continue. There’s few things more special than helping people understand themselves and the world. 3/4

Thrilled at this win-win partnership! 1/4 investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/…

@Regeneron @23andMe Absolutely thrilled at this news. I have always admired the @23andMe mission of using genetics to advance our understanding of human health and biology + delivering genetic information in a clear, engaging manner. A wonderful match with @Regeneron focus on science and long game.

📣Today we announced that we intend to acquire @23andMe with plans to maintain their consumer genetics business and advance our shared goal of improving human health and wellness. bit.ly/43gI75D

Okay, okay … even though #ASHG was critical in meeting great friends and landing the best jobs I ever had … I am not just #hiring. If you are trying to sequence 100,000s of well characterized samples, we @RegeneronDNA would like to help. DM me or stop by #ASHG24 booth. 3/3

Human genetics advancing at speed because technology, sample size, great phenotypes, smart people. #ASHG24 If interested in NY area + models + toolkits for health records and phenotypic data to be organized across millions of people… DM me. Great coding, clear thinking. 2/3

Vote is cast. Nothing to do but wait. On to Denver for #ASHG24 … catching up with new science and old friends. I’m #hiring. Keen to make new friends interested in relocating to the NY area to develop tools and methods to help human genetics scale. DM me. 1/3

Very touching “Stand Up 2 Cancer” moment in the Yankees - Dodgers World Series. As geneticists and scientists, we should stand up 2 cancer too. It’s incredible what targeted therapies have done, and we are only skimming the surface of what they can do. Watch this space.

@ASA_SSGG My pleasure!

We are grateful to have Dr. Goncalo Abecasis @gabecasis for our final keynote address on adventures in human genetics!

@bloodgenes @bloodgenes here’s another parting quote from another 15-year old paper. It’s incredible, and I am truly in awe to have played a small part in it and worked with you and other visionaries who imagined the value of the discovery. Thanks also to @VertexPharma for making it real!

Remarkable to see that our discoveries over 15 years ago would enable such tremendous advances for sickle cell disease and thalassemia!!! Incredible to think that the final sentence of our 2008 paper would be prophetic (science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…)... statnews.com/2023/11/16/u-k…

Music Artists as Superheroes This satire teaser was ENTIRELY made with AI 🤯 Images (Midjourney) + Motion (RunwayML Gen2) A THREAD 🧵👇 SOUND ON 🔊

Not sure how you can look at this data, ostensibly be interested in either meritocracy or equality, and want to move away from standardized tests. It's the subjective measures that are most slanted in favor of the rich kids. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

An actual civil war in the world’s biggest nuclear state. I pray for the people of Russia, Ukraine and all of us. wsj.com/livecoverage/r…

⁦@ewanbirney⁩ I am not worthy! It’s like comparing a nice coffee that the barista just prepared in your local coffee joint with the instant coffee you found on the counter and warmed in the microwave!

A 🧵 on some of my intuitions/priors about the genetics of complex and molecular traits in humans (i.e. what I think of as typical), largely motivated by GWAS/QTL studies over the past decade [citing papers with nice figures where possible]