An atlas of transcriptional dynamics in maternal blood over the course of healthy pregnancy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

Great team effort over many years 💪
Many thanks to Freja Dahl Hede, @brianpiening.bsky.social Line Slotte, Heather Boyd, Michael Snyder, Mads Melbye and many more colleagues for their great contributions.

/fin

Super grateful for the dedication of the amazing participants, who contributed weekly samples throughout pregnancy!

5/n

The atlas of detailed longitudinal transcriptional changes provides a baseline reference for healthy pregnancy.

Results for all genes and protein-protein interaction networks are made available for interactive exploration.

4/n

Enrichment in pathways involved in innate and neutrophil-mediated immunity, antiviral responses, T cell differentiation and signaling, erythropoiesis and hemoglobin metabolism.

Cell-type deconvolution showed increases in neutrophils and decreases in naïve CD4 and CD8 T cells.

3/n

We used a strict discovery/replication setup and found 720 genes that showed robust pregnancy specific expression patterns.

Co-expression analysis clustered the genes into nine modules with distinct dynamics.

2/n

🚨 New preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We studied the dynamics of maternal gene expression over the course of healthy pregnancy based on weekly samples 👇

Postdoctoral fellow in Perinatal medical research - Gothenburg (Kommun), Västra Götaland (SE) job with University of Gothenburg | 12853219 The Institute of Clinical Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology, is seeking a Postdoctor for perinatal medical wet and dry lab research.

📣📣📣 We are excited to announce a Postdoc position at the University of Gothenburg using pregnancy on-a-chip systems!

We are looking for a motivated candidate to push our efforts in moving from genetic discoveries to biological insights in preterm birth 👶

📅 Deadline 22 Feb 2026

Heavy lifting by Frank Geller in strong collaboration with Danish Blood Donor Study, Copenhagen Hospital Biobank, @finngen.bsky.social @estbiobank.bsky.social @massgeneralbrigham.bsky.social @ssi-dk.bsky.social
Out today in @natgenet.nature.com
Sum stats at: www.danishnationalbiobank.com/gwas

Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants - Nature Genetics Genome-wide analyses identify 13 loci associated with susceptibility to infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, including variation in ST6GAL1, previously associated with influenza susceptibility,...

📣 🧬🦠 New article out on genetic susceptibility to infection with Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. In this international GWAS meta-analysis, we identified loci not found for earlier variants of the virus. The findings point to a central role of glycosylation.
👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Well done 👍

Variants in the fetal genome near pro-inflammatory cytokine genes on 2q13 associate with gestational duration - Nature Communications Gestational duration depends on both maternal and fetal genetic influences. Here, the authors perform a fetal genome-wide association meta-analysis and find that a locus on 2q13 is associated with pre...

Interesting. Seems to connect well with the IL-1 locus we found in a fetal GWAS of gestational duration www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵 New paper out in PLoS Medicine ( doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004657 ):
Are common infections during pregnancy harmful to a child’s long-term cognitive outcomes?

We looked at over 250,000 full-siblings to find out.
Thread with explanation blow 👇

🧬🤰Still 2 weeks left to apply for this unique PhD fellowship in the genetics of fetal growth 👇👇

More details at our group website: feenstralab.github.io/posts/2025-0...

PhD fellowship in the genetics of growth and development in pregnancy in the Rasmussen Group

📢 We’re hiring a PhD Fellow 📢
Genetics of fetal and placental growth using measures derived from ultrasound imaging in pregnancy.

Co-supervised by Simon Rasmussen (CBMR, @cbmr.science) and me (SSI, @ssi-dk.bsky.social).
Start: Oct 1, 2025
Deadline: July 24, 2025
📎 employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=16...

This is VERY big genetics & health news, Regeneron (Pharmaceutical company with v strong genetics in medicine arm) is going to buy 23andme. investor.regeneron.com/news-release...

📢 Applications open for the SMARTbiomed Summer School!
🧠 Learn Causal Inference, Statistical Genetics & ML in R
📍 June 23–27 at the stunning Sandbjerg Estate, Denmark
⏳ Apply by April 19 — limited spots available!
👩‍🔬 For PhDs, postdocs & early-career researchers
🔗 smartbiomed.dk/news-and-eve...

Demonstration i solidaritet med Grønland på Lørdag kl. 12:00 foran den amerikanske ambassade. Håber at vi er mange der dukker op. #dkpol #dkmedier

www.facebook.com/events/40399...

Yes

GWAS summary statistics available here: www.danishnationalbiobank.com/gwas
/fin

31 genome-wide significant loci were found, harbouring plausible candidate genes like NFAT5, SAMD9, and SLC4A10. Intriguingly, MAGMA analysis showed enrichment of expression in pituitary tissue, underlining the importance of this gland in systemic osmolality regulation.
/4

Despite the power of these resources, we found no genetic associations for TIH. However, we also conducted GWAS analysis of plasma sodium in general, combining our results with a previous GWAS meta-analysis and detected many signals.
/3

We made use of (1) nationwide Danish registers for repeated sodium measurements and filled prescriptions of thiazides, and (2) Danish Blood Donor study and Copenhagen Hospital Biobank cohorts with existing genetic data for about half a million participants.
2/

Great effort by recently minted PhD Niklas Andersson (not on Bluesky) at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen. His thesis was on thiazide induced hyponatremia (TIH), low plasma sodium as a potential adverse reaction to use of thiazide diuretics. This paper investigates the genetics of TIH.
/1

A colorful hand-lettered sign made for the Pittsburgh Stand Up for Science rally. It reads: Science Pays, Science Saves. Defend It, Fund It.

Science Pays, Science Saves. Defend It, Fund It. #StandUpForScience

ESHG Abstract Deadline Reminder!
The Submission Deadline for #ESHG2025 is in a week (Jan 30)!

Please join us this spring (May 24-27) in Milan, Italy, for another fun and exciting ESHG conference!

Learn more at 2025.eshg.org

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#Genetics #ScienceConference #ESHG #ESHG2025