Professors Kenneth Baillie and Jim Flett Wilson deliver inaugural lectures

Guests were welcomed by traditional Scottish bagpipes performed by Music BMus student Struan McIntosh who led the professorial procession into the McEwan Hall auditorium. Following the procession, Professor David Argyle, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, welcomed an audience of family, friends, colleagues, alumni and members of the public. The evening featured inaugural lectures from both professors, followed by a Q&A session with the audience and a drinks reception.

Professor Kenneth Baillie

Professor Kenneth Baillie is a clinician–scientist whose work has transformed host genomics in infectious disease. He has pioneered machine-learning approaches to functional annotation and evidence synthesis, led global open-source preparations for outbreak research, and established the largest consented research study in the history of critical care medicine.

Kenneth’s research has uncovered key biological mechanisms underlying diseases such as influenza and hepatitis. Notably, his discovery that TYK2 protein drives lung inflammation in life-threatening Covid-19 led directly to the use of the TYK2-inhibitor, baricitinib, as a life-saving treatment for critically-ill patients – the first time a host genetic variant has led to an effective drug treatment for any infectious disease.

Lecture title: How to test a drug that doesn't exist, for a disease you don't understand

Modern life support enables us to keep people alive when their organs are failing to perform their most basic functions. But beneath the sophistication of the machines and treatments that prevent death, there is a fundamental problem: we simply don't understand the mechanisms causing critical illness. So finding new treatments for the underlying disease processes has been extremely difficult. This is a story of how DNA can help.

Your genome is a vast, written program that defines everything about how your body works. We live in a gap in history between learning to read that code, and learning to really understand it. But even without understanding how the program works, we can use shortcuts to answer questions about disease. In his lecture, Kenneth described the application of genomics in critical care medicine, his discovery of one effective new treatment, and the realistic potential to find more.

Professor Jim Flett Wilson

Professor Jim Flett Wilson has a long-standing interest in the population genetics of the British Isles. Over 20 years ago, he was first to identify Norse Viking genetic influences in his native Orkney. His research focuses on understanding genetic influences on disease risk, particularly in isolated populations.

Jim leads the Viking Genes studies, involving more than 10,000 volunteers from Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides. His recent work focuses on “actionable” genetic findings – including variants linked to breast, ovarian and prostate cancer – and exploring opportunities for preventative medicine through population-wide genetic screening among Scottish islanders.

Lecture title: Viking Genes: Ancestry and Health

The populations of the Scottish Islands have distinctive gene pools, due to their Norse-Scottish hybrid ancestry, small number of founders and long history of isolation. In his lecture, Jim discussed his studies of the genetic legacy of this history for Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides. He began studying the genetic ancestry of his Orkney home, moved on to the genetic underpinnings of disease risk and more recently has focussed on island-specific health risks. Jim discussed the population genetic structure of Scotland, the discovery of an enrichment of disease-causing variants (or founder effects) in the Scottish islands, the return of clinically important actionable findings to participants in the Viking Genes studies and the need for community-based genetic screening programmes for Orcadians, Shetlanders and Hebrideans.

Further information

Professor Kenneth Baillie | Centre for Inflammation Research

Jim Wilson | The University of Edinburgh

VIKING Genes