DrMatthias Wielscher

My current research has its focus on the investigation of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms influencing chronic inflammation, obesity related traits and lung function in general populations. My latest projects were focused on the use of genetic data to infer causal links between potential risk factors and diseases or other traits, a method called Mendelian Randomization. I am member of several large scale genetic and epigenetic consortia such as GIANT, GLGC, Spirometer, PACE, Eagle and EGG.

I was trained in Molecular Biology at University of Vienna and awarded a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Life Science in Vienna in 2015. During my PhD research I worked on DNA methylation based Biomarker development for lung cancer detection and performed gene expression analysis of lung biopsies derived from pulmonary fibrosis and COPD patients.

I joined Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin’s research group in 2015. Our main effort is centred around data analysis of two population based studies the Northern Finland Birth cohort 1966 and the Northern Finland Birth cohort 1986. At this time the team at Imperial is involved in two H2020 projects DynaHEALTH () and the ALEC project (). In this respect I am involved in the development of analysis strategies for EWAS using longitudinal data and Mendelian randomization models for DNA methylation data.