iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Burak Yelmen @burakyelmen.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Our RECOMB paper is now out. When epistasis is involved, GWAS can produce spurious associations due to correlation with the interaction terms. We show that this can happen even when interaction effects are small and it gets worse with larger sample sizes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

journals.sagepub.com

Bias in Genome-Wide Association Test Statistics Due to Omitted Interactions - Burak Yelmen, Merve Nur Güler, Tõnu Kollo, Märt Möls, Guillaume Charpiat, Flora Jay, , Estonian Biobank Research Team, Est...

Over the past two decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) enabled the discovery of thousands of variants associated with many complex human traits. Howe...

030

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Robin Hofmeister @rjhfmstr.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Almost a year after our Nature paper, @ukbiobank.ac.uk has published a great explainer of our work on parent-of-origin effects. A nice read if you're curious why the same variant can have opposite effects depending on which parent it came from. 🔗 www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/research-sto...

052

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Merve Nur Güler @meerf.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Our preprint is now online 🎉 We explored covariate-aware genomic prediction of blood metabolite profiles using multi-task neural networks. Many thanks to my supervisors and co-authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

Covariate-aware genomic prediction of blood metabolite profiles using multi-task neural networks

Circulating metabolites capture clinically relevant physiological variation and contribute to disease aetiology yet are mostly studied as biomarkers rather than prediction targets. Although genome-wid...

041

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution @official-smbe.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

#SMBE2026 S10: Learning from Evolution: AI Models for Genomic Function 🗓️ Tue Jun 30, 1:20pm 🔗 smbe2026.org/programme

SMBE2026 | Learning from Evolution: AI Models for Genomic Function

143

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Laurent Jacob @laurentjacob.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

The video recordings of the legend 2025 conference held last December on machine learning for evolutionary genomics are now online ! Feel free to have a look if you missed the conference. www.canal-u.tv/chaines/lisn...

1107

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Lili Milani @lilimilani.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

🧬 Join us at the 25th International Gene Forum – with stellar speakers from around the world (again)! Register now to secure your spot! 📅 August 25–26, 2026 📍 Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia 🌐 Information & registration: www.geneforum.ee #Geneforum2026 #Geneforum

0139

Burak Yelmen @burakyelmen.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Our paper on detecting GWA signals from neural networks is now published. Here we propose a model- and score-agnostic post hoc framework to detect potentially associated loci from neural networks trained for phenotype prediction. academic.oup.com/nargab/artic...

academic.oup.com

Interpreting artificial neural networks to detect genome-wide association signals for complex traits

Abstract. Investigating the genetic architecture of complex diseases is challenging due to the multifactorial interplay of genomic and environmental influe

062

Burak Yelmen @burakyelmen.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Hello all, we are looking for PhD candidates. Details are in the document below. Please feel free to spread the word. Thank you!

021

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Lehti Saag @lehtisaag.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

📣 We are seeking a postdoctoral research fellow in ancient metagenomics. Join us at the Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu. ⏳ 01.04.2026–31.03.2028 📚 1.0 position 📍 Riia 23b, Tartu, Estonia ℹ️ Project: lnkd.in/dQARuBxM ℹ️ Application: lnkd.in/dFR8DQxH ⏰ Deadline 02.02.2026

11018

Burak Yelmen @burakyelmen.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Excited to announce a new 5-year project on developing generative models for complex trait genomics. I’m now looking for PhD candidates with CS, ML, stats or bioinformatics backgrounds. I’d very much appreciate it if you could spread the word. Contact: burak.yelmen@ut.ee

021

Burak Yelmen @burakyelmen.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

In our new study, we investigate how GWAS test statistics behave when a trait’s genetic architecture includes epistasis. We first model the bias mathematically and show via simulations how linear models can produce spurious significance (more in comments). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Bias in genome-wide association test statistics due to omitted interactions

Over the past two decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) enabled the discovery of thousands of variants associated with many complex human traits. However, conventional GWAS are still widely ...

131

Burak Yelmen @burakyelmen.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

There is a very interesting conference on ML for genomics in French Alps December 8th-12th this year. I will also talk about generative AI. Abstract submission for oral presentations is open till September 22nd. legend2025.sciencesconf.org

legend2025.sciencesconf.org

legend2025 : Machine Learning for Evolutionary Genomics Data - Sciencesconf.org

020

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

kalmerla.bsky.social @kalmerla.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐒𝐂𝐀 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩? Find your research group and join us at the University of Tartu! Check our list of supervisors, application details, and everything else you need to know ut.ee/en/content/postdoctoral-research-university-tartu

036

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Lehti Saag @lehtisaag.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Happy to announce an open call for a funded PhD position! 📊 Research project: Elucidating the fine-scale demographic history of the Eastern Baltic by incorporating haplotype-based analyses and modelling 📍 Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu 📩 Application period: 1st–15th May 2025

11110

Reposted by Burak Yelmen

Lili Milani @lilimilani.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Excited to share our recently published overview of the @estbiobank.bsky.social 🧬 We highlight the unique features of the biobank and the conducted scientific research it has enabled, including the many recall studies that have been carried out over the years! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

The Estonian Biobank’s journey from biobanking to personalized medicine - Nature Communications

Large-scale biobanks have become a font of data that have led to discoveries across many fields of research. Here, the authors provide an overview of the Estonian Biobank, highlighting its value for r...

14514