Xilin Jiang (江熹霖)

Wellcome Early Career Fellow, Cambridge University (Jesus College) & Harvard Public Health

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HLRI

Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0BD, UK

HSPH

677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, United States

Jesus College, Cambridge

I am a statistical geneticist working on using molecular data to explain health outcomes. I am particularly interested in how additional data modality could enhance our current understanding of diseases.

I am broadly interested in two themes of research:

  • Methodology development: I am interested in developing statistical methods to understand the molecular architecture (DNA, RNA, proteomics, metabolomics) of health outcomes (disease, treatment responses, comorbidity). In statistical terminology, I work on dimension reduction, longitudinal analysis, efficient inference methods, and causal inference.
  • Translational research: We are collaborating with the NHS to develop tools and resources for computing risk scores using polygenic models, protein/metabolite levels, and e-health records. We work closely with clinical teams to investigate potential applications including clinical trials, treatment response prediction, and risk stratification.

If you are interested in working with us, check the opportunities page!

My research is funded by a Wellcome Early-Career award (PI). I have a primary affiliation at Cambridge University and a secondary affiliation at Harvard School of Public Health. My research program is sponsored by Professor Mike Inouye and Professor John Danesh at Cambridge University, and Professor Alkes Price at Harvard School of Pulic health. Previously I held a one-year transition British Heart Foundation career development fellowship (2022-2023). I got my DPhil in Genomic Medicine and Statistics from Oxford University, funded by a Rhodes Scholarship and a Wellcome Trust studentship. I received a BSc from Fudan University with an overall top GPA. I have experience in other computational biology topics, including infectious diseases (as a consultant to the Gates Foundation and China CDC on COVID response) and computational neuroscience (as an undergraduate researcher with Professor Thomas Yeo and Professor David Heeger).

During my PhD study, I enjoyed Oxford life through many (perhaps too many) events. I delivered the scholar address (name for a student speech delivered at the scholarship graduating ceremony) for the Rhodes scholar class of 2017; I organised two Rhodes China Trips; I kept supporting Rhodes Scholarship for China through multiple types of (volunteering) services.

I raced middle distance for my undergraduate college and tried triathlons at Oxford. I am currently training for a 15:59 5k, with a personal best of 16:21. Beside all this, I am an avid cook and enjoy sharing a table of good food (sometimes with a glass of wine) with family and friends.

news

Oct 15, 2023 New 10K PB at Cambridge Town and Gown 34:02!
Oct 9, 2023 ATM paper is out on Nature Genetics!
Aug 7, 2023 Wellcome Early-Career award (227566/Z/23/Z) is funded!
Aug 1, 2023 I will start as an associate at Jesus college at Cambridge University!
Aug 1, 2023 Multimorbidity GWAS paper is online now!

selected publications

  1. The impact of age on genetic risk for common diseases
    Xilin Jiang, Chris Holmes, and Gil McVean
    PLoS Genetics, 2021
  2. Age-dependent topic modeling of comorbidities in UK Biobank identifies disease subtypes with differential genetic risk
    Xilin Jiang, Martin Jinye Zhang, Yidong Zhang, and 5 more authors
    Nature Genetics, 2023
  3. Topic modeling identifies novel genetic loci associated with multimorbidities in UK Biobank
    Yidong Zhang, Xilin Jiang, Alexander J Mentzer, and 2 more authors
    Cell Genomics, 2023