Arslan Zaidi
@aazaidi.bsky.social
Genetics, stats, complex traits. Asst. prof. at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. views my own. he/him - Zaidilab.org
Pinned
Arslan Zaidi
@aazaidi.bsky.social
· May 25
Our paper on the theoretical properties of SNP heritability in admixed populations is out in Genetics:
academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...
with @jinguohuang.bsky.social, @nicole-kleman.bsky.social , Saonli Basu, and Mark Shriver
academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...
with @jinguohuang.bsky.social, @nicole-kleman.bsky.social , Saonli Basu, and Mark Shriver
Glad to be part of a community that values the well-being and safety of its neighbors.
January 23, 2026 at 11:15 PM
Glad to be part of a community that values the well-being and safety of its neighbors.
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
We visited Renee Good's memorial.
There, we met a group of Somali Minnesotans — who too have been viciously attacked for weeks — warmly hosting everyone.
Flowers & stuffed animals galore.
Neighbors continually offering sambusas & hand-warmers & water.
Grief. And belief.
Scenes from Minneapolis:
There, we met a group of Somali Minnesotans — who too have been viciously attacked for weeks — warmly hosting everyone.
Flowers & stuffed animals galore.
Neighbors continually offering sambusas & hand-warmers & water.
Grief. And belief.
Scenes from Minneapolis:
WATCH: Prem Attends Memorial at Scene of Murder in Minneapolis
See what Prem saw at the memorial for the 37-year-old mother killed by ICE in Minneapolis, plus interview with Omar Fateh and residents.
zeteo.com
January 10, 2026 at 10:53 PM
We visited Renee Good's memorial.
There, we met a group of Somali Minnesotans — who too have been viciously attacked for weeks — warmly hosting everyone.
Flowers & stuffed animals galore.
Neighbors continually offering sambusas & hand-warmers & water.
Grief. And belief.
Scenes from Minneapolis:
There, we met a group of Somali Minnesotans — who too have been viciously attacked for weeks — warmly hosting everyone.
Flowers & stuffed animals galore.
Neighbors continually offering sambusas & hand-warmers & water.
Grief. And belief.
Scenes from Minneapolis:
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
I'm just delighted to announce our new preprint on genome-scale perturb-seq in CD4+ T cells. We learned both general lessons about the power of perturb-seq, and specific lessons about T cell biology.
Led by amazing postdocs Emma Dann and Ronghui Zhu, with my wonderful collaborator Alex Marson.
Led by amazing postdocs Emma Dann and Ronghui Zhu, with my wonderful collaborator Alex Marson.
Together with @ronghuizhu.bsky.social, we are thrilled to present our new perturb-seq study of 22M primary CD4+ T cells, across donors and timepoints – the result of a decade-long collaboration between the Marson @marsonlab.bsky.social and Pritchard @jkpritch.bsky.social labs 🧵 tinyurl.com/gwt2025
Genome-scale perturb-seq in primary human CD4+ T cells maps context-specific regulators of T cell programs and human immune traits
Gene regulatory networks encode the fundamental logic of cellular functions, but systematic network mapping remains challenging, especially in cell states relevant to human biology and disease. Here, ...
tinyurl.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:27 PM
I'm just delighted to announce our new preprint on genome-scale perturb-seq in CD4+ T cells. We learned both general lessons about the power of perturb-seq, and specific lessons about T cell biology.
Led by amazing postdocs Emma Dann and Ronghui Zhu, with my wonderful collaborator Alex Marson.
Led by amazing postdocs Emma Dann and Ronghui Zhu, with my wonderful collaborator Alex Marson.
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
My second dissertation paper is now out in @natcomms.nature.com! Here we introduce the co-expression-wide association study (COWAS) method for identifying pairs of genes or proteins whose genetically regulated co-expression is associated with complex traits. 🧵⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Co-expression-wide association studies link genetically regulated interactions with complex traits - Nature Communications
Proteins can affect traits through their interactions with one another. Here, the authors propose the COWAS method to identify pairs of interacting genes or proteins whose genetically regulated co-exp...
www.nature.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:52 AM
My second dissertation paper is now out in @natcomms.nature.com! Here we introduce the co-expression-wide association study (COWAS) method for identifying pairs of genes or proteins whose genetically regulated co-expression is associated with complex traits. 🧵⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
Preprint online right before the holidays! Excited to share the first piece of work from the Zhang Lab, led by my absolutely stellar postdoc Michelle Kim! In this work, we ask how admixture, selection and demography shape complex trait genetics and GWAS performance www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Determining the driving factors shaping genetic architecture of complex traits in recently admixed populations
Understanding the genetic architecture of complex traits in admixed populations remains challenging due to heterogeneous genetic backgrounds and demographic histories. Mischaracterizing admixture can ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 16, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Preprint online right before the holidays! Excited to share the first piece of work from the Zhang Lab, led by my absolutely stellar postdoc Michelle Kim! In this work, we ask how admixture, selection and demography shape complex trait genetics and GWAS performance www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
As promised, a longer thread on what I consider to be some of the most interesting and important contributions of this paper (1/10)
Here, we show that the genetic relatedness matrix (GRM) can be used to control this type of genetic confounding. (Though our model has not been explicitly described in prior literature, we show that it is the basis for existing methods to control genetic confounding... but more on that later.) (4/6)
December 1, 2025 at 9:20 PM
As promised, a longer thread on what I consider to be some of the most interesting and important contributions of this paper (1/10)
Our first labsgiving/Diwali celebration 🪔!
November 22, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Our first labsgiving/Diwali celebration 🪔!
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
Hey Yaniv Brandvain is not on Bluesky but his most recent biostats ebook is live ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/. His stats resources have been so helpful to me as I develop my own stats course, so check it out. Github repo here: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
Applied Biostatistics
ybrandvain.github.io
October 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Hey Yaniv Brandvain is not on Bluesky but his most recent biostats ebook is live ybrandvain.github.io/biostats/. His stats resources have been so helpful to me as I develop my own stats course, so check it out. Github repo here: github.com/ybrandvain/b...
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
reminder that my (wonderful, diverse, interdisciplinary) department at the University of Oregon is seeking applications for an Associate/Full Professor of Data Science -- deadline 10/31 and only cover letter/CV needed to apply
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30328
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30328
University of Oregon, Department of Data Science
Job #AJO30328, 535565 Associate or Full Professor of Data Science, Department of Data Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, US
academicjobsonline.org
October 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
reminder that my (wonderful, diverse, interdisciplinary) department at the University of Oregon is seeking applications for an Associate/Full Professor of Data Science -- deadline 10/31 and only cover letter/CV needed to apply
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30328
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30328
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
I'm recruiting a postdoc for my group (based in beautiful Eugene, OR). Please get in touch if you're interested, esp if you'd like to chat at #ASHG25!
We'll primarily work at the intersection of statistical and population genetics, and we also have active projects related to the ethical and social implications of human genetics (ELSI). Please get in touch if that's a combination that sounds interesting to you!
October 15, 2025 at 12:52 PM
I'm recruiting a postdoc for my group (based in beautiful Eugene, OR). Please get in touch if you're interested, esp if you'd like to chat at #ASHG25!
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
October 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
If you are at #ASHG2025 and would like to chat in person, please reach out! My lab is looking for curious scientists to join us, especially (but not limited to) postdoctoral researchers.
October 14, 2025 at 3:45 PM
If you are at #ASHG2025 and would like to chat in person, please reach out! My lab is looking for curious scientists to join us, especially (but not limited to) postdoctoral researchers.
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
🔔 Excited to share our preprint from the largest ever exome-wide association study for T2D in South Asians. We make important discoveries implicating the genes HNF4A, GP2, RNF19A in the aetiology of diabetes and metabolic traits in south Asians. 👉 Read it here:
Exome-wide association study in 54,698 south Asians identifies novel type 2 diabetes associations with RNF19A, HNF4A, and dissects role of coding variants in GP2 and CDKAL1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.24.25336527v1
October 9, 2025 at 6:48 AM
🔔 Excited to share our preprint from the largest ever exome-wide association study for T2D in South Asians. We make important discoveries implicating the genes HNF4A, GP2, RNF19A in the aetiology of diabetes and metabolic traits in south Asians. 👉 Read it here:
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
Whoops, wrong hashtag.
If you are going to #ASHG25, check out the line-up!
This is perfect if you are a trainee who needs to network but has no idea how to do it. Instead of trying to corner someone at the posters (which is stressful!), schedule a slot and sit down for 15 minutes to chat!
If you are going to #ASHG25, check out the line-up!
This is perfect if you are a trainee who needs to network but has no idea how to do it. Instead of trying to corner someone at the posters (which is stressful!), schedule a slot and sit down for 15 minutes to chat!
Are you going to #ASHG2025 next week in Boston? Interested in getting some mentorship from leading figures in the field (and me)?
Check out our speed mentoring event on Thursday! Sign-ups are online so reserve a spot ASAP.
site.pheedloop.com/event/ASHG25...
Check out our speed mentoring event on Thursday! Sign-ups are online so reserve a spot ASAP.
site.pheedloop.com/event/ASHG25...
PheedLoop
PheedLoop: Hybrid, In-Person & Virtual Event Software
site.pheedloop.com
October 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Whoops, wrong hashtag.
If you are going to #ASHG25, check out the line-up!
This is perfect if you are a trainee who needs to network but has no idea how to do it. Instead of trying to corner someone at the posters (which is stressful!), schedule a slot and sit down for 15 minutes to chat!
If you are going to #ASHG25, check out the line-up!
This is perfect if you are a trainee who needs to network but has no idea how to do it. Instead of trying to corner someone at the posters (which is stressful!), schedule a slot and sit down for 15 minutes to chat!
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
Super excited to see our reference bias work out in Cell! Reviewers gave us some excellent ideas, and Maria added on some new analyses that broke down how SNPs from heterospecific references mapped or did not map in a conspecific reference.
Now published in Cell! We found that ~15% of SNPs from divergent refs did not liftover as SNPs in the gray fox ref—half mapped to monomorphic sites, half failed to map. Co-authored with Matthew Genchev, @elliecat.bsky.social, and @jazlynmooney.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 22, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Super excited to see our reference bias work out in Cell! Reviewers gave us some excellent ideas, and Maria added on some new analyses that broke down how SNPs from heterospecific references mapped or did not map in a conspecific reference.
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
Save the date! #PEQG26 June 9-12 2026 in Asilomar, CA. Happens only every 2yrs, but is my favorite conference. Full website coming soon, and registration and abstract submission opens November 14, but I'm allowed to tease that keynotes will be @jnovembre.bsky.social @jennytung.bsky.social and me!
Homepage - Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference
Visit our website to learn more.
genetics-gsa.org
September 3, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Save the date! #PEQG26 June 9-12 2026 in Asilomar, CA. Happens only every 2yrs, but is my favorite conference. Full website coming soon, and registration and abstract submission opens November 14, but I'm allowed to tease that keynotes will be @jnovembre.bsky.social @jennytung.bsky.social and me!
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
August 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Another fun year for the #mwpg, this year at the University of Minnesota! Great to see all the trainees participating with their cool work.
August 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Another fun year for the #mwpg, this year at the University of Minnesota! Great to see all the trainees participating with their cool work.
Huge congratulations to my friend @mitopr.bsky.social on being selected as a Pew Biomedical Scholar!
www.pew.org/en/projects/...
www.pew.org/en/projects/...
Maria A. Nieves-Colón, Ph.D.
My research will investigate the genetic and health impacts of the influx of millions of Africans to Latin America during the colonial period.
www.pew.org
August 13, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Huge congratulations to my friend @mitopr.bsky.social on being selected as a Pew Biomedical Scholar!
www.pew.org/en/projects/...
www.pew.org/en/projects/...
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
AlphaSimR course edin.ac/3wfGSEj Week 3 opens with a discussion on genetic variation between relatives, with a focus on siblings. While mutation is the ultimate source of genetic variation (by introducing new alleles), recombination shuffles the existing genetic variation through meiosis.
August 11, 2025 at 11:09 AM
AlphaSimR course edin.ac/3wfGSEj Week 3 opens with a discussion on genetic variation between relatives, with a focus on siblings. While mutation is the ultimate source of genetic variation (by introducing new alleles), recombination shuffles the existing genetic variation through meiosis.
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
New in #GENETICS: Huang et al. describe biases in SNP & local ancestry heritability as functions of admixture history and the genetic architecture of the trait, clarifying their interpretation and implication for #GWAS & polygenic prediction in population admixture.
Read more: buff.ly/1xB3Mpu
Read more: buff.ly/1xB3Mpu
July 28, 2025 at 6:02 PM
New in #GENETICS: Huang et al. describe biases in SNP & local ancestry heritability as functions of admixture history and the genetic architecture of the trait, clarifying their interpretation and implication for #GWAS & polygenic prediction in population admixture.
Read more: buff.ly/1xB3Mpu
Read more: buff.ly/1xB3Mpu
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
The Mathieson Lab at the University of Pennsylvania is hiring a computational postdoc in machine learning and evolutionary biology. Apply with a CV and references: smathi@sas.upenn.edu. More info: https://saramathieson.github.io/lab #postdoc
We are a computational lab focusing on developing machine learning algorithms for biological data. Currently we are working on inference tasks related to natural selection and demographic inference, as well as generative models for genomic data from humans, mosquitos, and other species.
saramathieson.github.io
July 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
The Mathieson Lab at the University of Pennsylvania is hiring a computational postdoc in machine learning and evolutionary biology. Apply with a CV and references: smathi@sas.upenn.edu. More info: https://saramathieson.github.io/lab #postdoc
Reposted by Arslan Zaidi
Effects of ancestry, agriculture, and lactase persistence on the stature of prehistoric Europeans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.664181v1
July 17, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Effects of ancestry, agriculture, and lactase persistence on the stature of prehistoric Europeans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.664181v1
last day tomorrow to register for a talk/poster at Midwest popgen. Please RT(? is that what they say here?)!
Please register if you haven't already done so.
MidWest PopGen is happening in August at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities)—abstract deadline for talk: July 11th, and poster: August 1st.
sites.google.com/umn.edu/mwpg...
MidWest PopGen is happening in August at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities)—abstract deadline for talk: July 11th, and poster: August 1st.
sites.google.com/umn.edu/mwpg...
MWPG2025
Join us for the 10th Midwest Population Genetics conference, held at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities from August 21 - August 22, 2025.
sites.google.com
July 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
last day tomorrow to register for a talk/poster at Midwest popgen. Please RT(? is that what they say here?)!