@BarWoolf

Perplexed sceptic & genetic epidemiologist @mrc_ieu @MRC_BSU @BristolUniPsych. Tutor @LSHTM & @StEdmundsCam.

Joined November 2017
  • Tweets393
  • Following420
  • Followers230
25Media
Benji Woolf retweeted
Stephen Burgess@stevesphdAug 13
New publication "What phases of the drug development framework can epidemiological studies emulate?" at Am J Epi led by me (!), with contributions from @ja_labrecque_, @BarWoolf, Emily, David R, and Sofia: academic.oup.com/aje/advance…

What phases of the drug development framework can epidemiological studies emulate?

Abstract. Target trial emulation prompts investigators to frame their analysis question in terms of a hypothetical clinical trial. Although this does not s

academic.oup.com
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New pre-print "Mendelian randomization in a multi-ancestry world: reflections and practical advice" led by @amymariemason - arxiv.org/abs/2510.17554

Mendelian randomization in a multi-ancestry world: reflections and...

Many Mendelian randomization (MR) papers have been conducted only in people of European ancestry, limiting transportability of results to the global population. Expanding MR to diverse ancestry...

arxiv.org
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Replying to @stevesphd @BarWoolf @ERSpublications
Really important work (and delighted to help) using pulmonary hypertension as a disease exemplar. Applicable across all rare disease I expect.
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New manuscript led by @BarWoolf "A cautionary note on the naive use of general-population biobanks to study pulmonary arterial hypertension" is now published at Euro Respiratory Journal @ERSpublications: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4096…. Summary follows:

A cautionary note on the naive use of general-population biobanks to study pulmonary arterial...

There are two issues with using existing data from general-population biobanks to study PAH: low power and non-random misclassification. Relative to gold standard data, this results in false-positive...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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One of my students @StEdmundsCam has a really remarkable story of overcoming adversity to study @Cambridge_Uni. Sadly his scholarship can't fund the rest of his degree so he is trying crowdfunding. Any help would be really appreciated, thank you very much! gofundme.com/f/from-poverty-…

Donate to I may have grown up poor, but my dreams never were., organized by Chanhyuk Park

Hello, I am Chan Hyuk Park from South Korea, and studying mathematic… Chanhyuk Park needs your support for I may have grown up poor, but my dreams never were.

gofundme.com
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New pre-print online: "Context-stratified Mendelian randomization: exploiting regional exposure variation to explore causal effect heterogeneity and non-linearity", arxiv.org/abs/2507.11088. We propose an alternative approach to assess non-linearity in Mendelian randomization.

Context-stratified Mendelian randomization: exploiting regional...

Mendelian randomization (MR) uses genetic variants as instrumental variables to make causal claims. Standard MR approaches typically report a single population-averaged estimate, limiting their...

arxiv.org
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Replying to @stevesphd @BarWoolf
Forgot to add the link to the manuscript: academic.oup.com/ajeadvances….

The role of estimation in Mendelian randomization: should Mendelian randomization investigations...

Abstract. Mendelian randomization (MR) makes causal claims by treating genetic variation in an analogous way to randomization in a clinical trial. MR inves

academic.oup.com
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New paper published at AJE Advances: "The role of estimation in Mendelian randomization: should Mendelian randomization investigations provide estimates?" led by @BarWoolf and myself. Brief thread:
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Posting a tad late, but @jamesyrmsk and @dpsg108 and I have a new research letter in @intjepidemiol where we use negative controls to illustrate why drug use phenotypes should not be used as exposures in MR studies academic.oup.com/ije/article…

Why exposure misidentification is a pervasive pitfall of Mendelian randomization studies with...

An increasingly common application of Mendelian randomization (MR) in pharmacoepidemiology explores the effects of medication use on drug safety or repurpo

academic.oup.com
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🚨 New preprint awaiting feedback! 🚨 led by the lovely and talented @martaalcalde18 looking at the relationship between PDE5 inhibition and Alzheimer's disease using #mendelianrandomization (spolier: we found nada) medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/…

PDE5 inhibition and Alzheimer’s disease risk: a mendelian randomisation study

INTRODUCTION While preclinical studies suggest that Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibition may reduce cognitive impairment, findings from observational studies on whether PDE5 inhibitors reduce...

medrxiv.org
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And the accepted m/s is now out in the AJE! academic.oup.com/aje/advance… Thank you to @htcronje @dpsg108 @stevesphd @LoukasZagkos @LarssonSC Summary can be found xitter.cf/BarWoolf/status/166459…

Comparison of caffeine consumption behavior with plasma caffeine levels as exposure measures in...

Abstract. Mendelian randomization is an epidemiologic technique that can explore the potential effect of perturbing a pharmacological target. Plasma caffei

academic.oup.com
Benji Woolf@BarWoolf20 Jun 2024
Had a lot of fun presenting our work (accepted this week at the AJE) on exposure miss-identification in MR, and how it results in directionally incorrect conclusions for studies of caffeine consumption at #mrconf24.
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Had a lot of fun presenting our work (accepted this week at the AJE) on exposure miss-identification in MR, and how it results in directionally incorrect conclusions for studies of caffeine consumption at #mrconf24.
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youtube.com/watch?v=-8Gy0s3m… really enjoyed watching this seminar by @HarvardEpi on measurement error. Lots of food for thought.
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Our new study erj.ersjournals.com/content/… with James Perry, Charles Hong @mark_toshner, @stevesphd, @dpsg108, Martin Wilkins, and Chris Rhodes failed to find evidence supporting the use of IL6R inhibitors on pulmonary arterial hypertension.
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New Mendelian Randomization from @LoukasZagkos @htcronje @BarWoolf @stevesphd @Yuan_AS @LarssonSC @jotzou @dpsg108 et al.: Long-term increases in circulating #caffeine may reduce bodyweight and the risk of osteoarthrosis and osteoarthritis. shorturl.at/blySV
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**Flash Talks Event** Benjamin Woolf @BarWoolf shares his research "Comparison of caffeine consumption behavior with plasma caffeine levels as exposure measures in drug-target Mendelian randomization studies" Vote for your favourite talk: meg-uk.org/flash-talks-2024

Flash Talk Competition | MEG-UK

Showcase your molecular epidemiology research in a 3 minute video for a chance to win a prize.

meg-uk.org
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New paper: "A frequentist test of proportional colocalization after selecting relevant genetic variants": arxiv.org/abs/2402.12171 led by Ash Patel. We introduce a new test for colocalization in a frequentist paradigm. Thread follows!

A frequentist test of proportional colocalization after selecting...

Colocalization analyses assess whether two traits are affected by the same or distinct causal genetic variants in a single gene region. A class of Bayesian colocalization tests are now routinely...

arxiv.org
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Really nice review by @htcronje and @stevesphd on the importance of sensible variant selection in MR
Stephen Burgess@stevesphd23 Jan 2024
Our review "Incorporating biological and clinical insights into variant choice for Mendelian randomisation: examples and principles" written together with @htcronje and published at @eGastro_BMJ is now available at egastroenterology.bmj.com/co…. Brief thread:

Incorporating biological and clinical insights into variant choice for Mendelian randomisation:...

Mendelian randomisation is an accessible and valuable epidemiological approach to provide insight into the causal nature of relationships between risk factor exposures and disease outcomes. However,...

egastroenterology.bmj.com
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Benji Woolf retweeted
The BMJ
@bmj_latest13 Dec 2023
New study supports the potential for PDE5 inhibition to increase the number of children fathered by male patients, but finds no evidence of such an effect in female patients @BarWoolf #ChristmasBMJ bmj.com/content/383/bmj-2023…

A drug target for erectile dysfunction to help improve fertility, sexual activity, and wellbeing:...

Objective To investigate the association of genetically proxied (using a surrogate biomarker) inhibition of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5), an established drug target for erectile dysfunction, with...

bmj.com
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Thanks to Benji (@BarWoolf) and Dipender (@dpsg108) for leading this work, and for Skanda, Toinét (@htcronje), James (@jamesyrmsk), and the BMJ editors for their willingness to engage with both the science and the humour of the article. /END
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