Dr Nicole Soranzo

Nicole's team works to expand discovery of novel genetic loci for intermediate cardiovascular endpoints through associations of common and rare DNA variation with biochemical and physiologic intermediate phenotypes.

Nicole graduated in biological sciences at the University of Milan, Italy, in 1994 and completed her PhD in Genetics at the University of Dundee in 1999, working on research projects focusing on plant population and evolutionary genetics.

She later did postdoctoral work at the Department of Genetics of the University of Milan and later at University College London (UK) with David Goldstein, working on the evolutionary genetics of common diseases and pharmacogenomics. In December 2005, Nicole joined the Pharmacogenomics Department at Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development (USA) as a senior scientist, where she stayed until June 2007.

Nicole has been employed at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute since July 2007, first as a senior staff scientist. In June 2009 she joined the Institute's Faculty. She is also honorary senior lecturer at the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology (DTR), King's College School of Medicine, where she leads efforts in the Cardiovascular Genetics research theme.

Selected Publications

• Genome-wide association study identifies eight loci associated with blood pressure.

  Newton-Cheh C, Johnson T, Gateva V, Tobin MD, Bochud M, Coin L, Najjar SS, Zhao JH, Heath SC, Eyheramendy S, Papadakis K, Voight BF, Scott LJ, Zhang F, Farrall M, Tanaka T, Wallace C, Chambers JC, Khaw KT, Nilsson P, van der Harst P, Polidoro S, Grobbee DE, Onland-Moret NC, Bots ML, Wain LV, Elliott KS, Teumer A, Luan J, Lucas G, Kuusisto J, Burton PR, Hadley D, McArdle WL, Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, Brown M, Dominiczak A, Newhouse SJ, Samani NJ, Webster J, Zeggini E, Beckmann JS, Bergmann S, Lim N, Song K, Vollenweider P, Waeber G, Waterworth DM, Yuan X, Groop L, Orho-Melander M, Allione A, Di Gregorio A, Guarrera S, Panico S, Ricceri F, Romanazzi V, Sacerdote C, Vineis P, Barroso I, Sandhu MS, Luben RN, Crawford GJ, Jousilahti P, Perola M, Boehnke M, Bonnycastle LL, Collins FS, Jackson AU, Mohlke KL, Stringham HM, Valle TT, Willer CJ, Bergman RN, Morken MA, Döring A, Gieger C, Illig T, Meitinger T, Org E, Pfeufer A, Wichmann HE, Kathiresan S, Marrugat J, O'Donnell CJ, Schwartz SM, Siscovick DS, Subirana I, Freimer NB, Hartikainen AL, McCarthy MI, O'Reilly PF, Peltonen L, Pouta A, de Jong PE, Snieder H, van Gilst WH, Clarke R, Goel A, Hamsten A, Peden JF, Seedorf U, Syvänen AC, Tognoni G, Lakatta EG, Sanna S, Scheet P, Schlessinger D, Scuteri A, Dörr M, Ernst F, Felix SB, Homuth G, Lorbeer R, Reffelmann T, Rettig R, Völker U, Galan P, Gut IG, Hercberg S, Lathrop GM, Zelenika D, Deloukas P, Soranzo N, Williams FM, Zhai G, Salomaa V, Laakso M, Elosua R, Forouhi NG, Völzke H, Uiterwaal CS, van der Schouw YT, Numans ME, Matullo G, Navis G, Berglund G, Bingham SA, Kooner JS, Connell JM, Bandinelli S, Ferrucci L, Watkins H, Spector TD, Tuomilehto J, Altshuler D, Strachan DP, Laan M, Meneton P, Wareham NJ, Uda M, Jarvelin MR, Mooser V, Melander O, Loos RJ, Elliott P, Abecasis GR, Caulfield M and Munroe PB

  Nature genetics2009;41;6;666-76

  PUBMED: 19430483; PMC: 2891673; DOI: 10.1038/ng.361

• Large scale association analysis of novel genetic loci for coronary artery disease.

  Coronary Artery Disease Consortium, Samani NJ, Deloukas P, Erdmann J, Hengstenberg C, Kuulasmaa K, McGinnis R, Schunkert H, Soranzo N, Thompson J, Tiret L and Ziegler A

  Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology 2009;29;5;774-80

  PUBMED: 19164808; DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.108.181388

• A novel variant on chromosome 7q22.3 associated with mean platelet volume, counts, and function.

  Soranzo N, Rendon A, Gieger C, Jones CI, Watkins NA, Menzel S, Döring A, Stephens J, Prokisch H, Erber W, Potter SC, Bray SL, Burns P, Jolley J, Falchi M, Kühnel B, Erdmann J, Schunkert H, Samani NJ, Illig T, Garner SF, Rankin A, Meisinger C, Bradley JR, Thein SL, Goodall AH, Spector TD, Deloukas P and Ouwehand WH

  Blood2009;113;16;3831-7

  PUBMED: 19221038; PMC: 2714088; DOI: 10.1182/blood-2008-10-184234

• Meta-analysis of genome-wide scans for human adult stature identifies novel Loci and associations with measures of skeletal frame size.

  Soranzo N, Rivadeneira F, Chinappen-Horsley U, Malkina I, Richards JB, Hammond N, Stolk L, Nica A, Inouye M, Hofman A, Stephens J, Wheeler E, Arp P, Gwilliam R, Jhamai PM, Potter S, Chaney A, Ghori MJ, Ravindrarajah R, Ermakov S, Estrada K, Pols HA, Williams FM, McArdle WL, van Meurs JB, Loos RJ, Dermitzakis ET, Ahmadi KR, Hart DJ, Ouwehand WH, Wareham NJ, Barroso I, Sandhu MS, Strachan DP, Livshits G, Spector TD, Uitterlinden AG and Deloukas P

  PLoS genetics2009;5;4;e1000445

  PUBMED: 19343178; PMC: 2661236; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000445

• A genome-wide association study identifies three loci associated with mean platelet volume.

  Meisinger C, Prokisch H, Gieger C, Soranzo N, Mehta D, Rosskopf D, Lichtner P, Klopp N, Stephens J, Watkins NA, Deloukas P, Greinacher A, Koenig W, Nauck M, Rimmbach C, Völzke H, Peters A, Illig T, Ouwehand WH, Meitinger T, Wichmann HE and Döring A

  American journal of human genetics2009;84;1;66-71

  PUBMED: 19110211; PMC: 2668036; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.015

• Variants in MTNR1B influence fasting glucose levels.

  Prokopenko I, Langenberg C, Florez JC, Saxena R, Soranzo N, Thorleifsson G, Loos RJ, Manning AK, Jackson AU, Aulchenko Y, Potter SC, Erdos MR, Sanna S, Hottenga JJ, Wheeler E, Kaakinen M, Lyssenko V, Chen WM, Ahmadi K, Beckmann JS, Bergman RN, Bochud M, Bonnycastle LL, Buchanan TA, Cao A, Cervino A, Coin L, Collins FS, Crisponi L, de Geus EJ, Dehghan A, Deloukas P, Doney AS, Elliott P, Freimer N, Gateva V, Herder C, Hofman A, Hughes TE, Hunt S, Illig T, Inouye M, Isomaa B, Johnson T, Kong A, Krestyaninova M, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Lim N, Lindblad U, Lindgren CM, McCann OT, Mohlke KL, Morris AD, Naitza S, Orrù M, Palmer CN, Pouta A, Randall J, Rathmann W, Saramies J, Scheet P, Scott LJ, Scuteri A, Sharp S, Sijbrands E, Smit JH, Song K, Steinthorsdottir V, Stringham HM, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Uitterlinden AG, Voight BF, Waterworth D, Wichmann HE, Willemsen G, Witteman JC, Yuan X, Zhao JH, Zeggini E, Schlessinger D, Sandhu M, Boomsma DI, Uda M, Spector TD, Penninx BW, Altshuler D, Vollenweider P, Jarvelin MR, Lakatta E, Waeber G, Fox CS, Peltonen L, Groop LC, Mooser V, Cupples LA, Thorsteinsdottir U, Boehnke M, Barroso I, Van Duijn C, Dupuis J, Watanabe RM, Stefansson K, McCarthy MI, Wareham NJ, Meigs JB and Abecasis GR

  Nature genetics2009;41;1;77-81

  PUBMED: 19060907; PMC: 2682768; DOI: 10.1038/ng.290