Nik Baya
nbaya.bsky.social
Nik Baya
@nbaya.bsky.social
Postdoc in Samocha Lab at MGH and Broad Institute. Oxford PhD in Genomic Medicine and Statistics. Passionate about using data science to improve global public health.
Excellent question! We briefly looked into singleton burden causing deviation from PGS for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The signal wasn't quite as robust, but perhaps an opportunity for future work!
January 12, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Thanks for sharing our preprint! :)

For those curious, here's our graphical abstract
January 12, 2026 at 3:12 PM
January 6, 2026 at 6:31 PM
We also performed an exome-wide scan for novel genes associated with misalignment...

♀️Age at Menopause: We identified KANK1 as a gene associated with later-than-expected age at menopause, suggesting a potential protective role against primary ovarian insufficiency.
January 6, 2026 at 6:31 PM
We found "misaligned" individuals are enriched for rare variants:

🦴 Bone Density: Low misaligned enriched for pLoF in COPB2 & GORAB.

🩸 T2D: Cases with rare HNF1A/HNF4A variants had significantly lower polygenic risk.

🫀 CAD: Controls with protective ANGPTL3 variants had higher polygenic risk.
January 6, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Why do some individuals defy their polygenic score?

In the largest study of its kind (402k UKB individuals; 7 continuous traits + 3 diseases), we asked: If your phenotype deviates from common-variant polygenic score prediction, what's driving that difference?

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 6, 2026 at 6:31 PM
This research was made possible through funding from @wellcometrust.bsky.social, the Clarendon Scholarship, and the Oxford-Bendich scholarship from @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Thanks to co-authors İlknur Sur Erdem (co-first), @samvidav.bsky.social, Saskia Reibe, Philip Charles, Elena Navarro Guerrero, @barneyhill.bsky.social, Frederik Heymann Lassen, Melina Claussnitzer, and senior authors @astheeggeggs.bsky.social and @ceclindgren.bsky.social for their contributions!
September 4, 2025 at 5:28 PM
✨ NEW PUBLICATION ✨

We combined large-scale human genetics with CRISPR-Cas9 editing in fat cells to identify genes linked to fat accumulation.

Check out the full study, now published in AJHG! www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltex...
Combining evidence from human genetic and functional screens to identify pathways altering obesity and fat distribution
Overall and tissue-specific fat accumulation are associated with altered risk of cardiometabolic disease and mortality. By combining exome-wide association analysis of traits related to obesity and fa...
www.cell.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Check out this PhD opportunity to work with a great supervisor at Oxford! 🌟
Come join us! We have an exciting PhD opportunity in statistical genetics at the University of Oxford.
More info here: bit.ly/biomedDPhil
🗓️ App deadline: June 30th 2025.
Please share!
Research Studentships | statistics
bit.ly
June 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
And thank you to @wellcometrust.bsky.social, Clarendon Scholars' Association, and @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social for funding my DPhil!
May 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Grateful as always to my co-authors @samvidav.bsky.social, Frederik Heymann Lassen, @hannahcurrant.bsky.social and mentors @astheeggeggs.bsky.social, @ceclindgren.bsky.social for their support!
May 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM
So excited to give a talk at #ESHG2025! ✨

I presented our work demonstrating that individuals whose phenotype deviates from genetic expectation are enriched for rare damaging variants.

This has implications for:
- Screening of rare disorders 🔎
- Target discovery 💊
- Improving trait prediction 📈
May 26, 2025 at 2:33 PM