Sign in

Kerstin Ludwig

@kuludwig.bsky.social
227 followers 243 following 27 posts

Group leader at University of Bonn, studying the genomics of birth defects and infectious diseases.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Universität Bonn @unibonn.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
#ScienceSnack Researchers at the UKB and the University of Bonn have now identified genetic and non-genetic factors that help the body fight the Epstein-Barr virus. EBV can cause certain types of cancer or autoimmune diseases. www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/030-... Image: UKB / A. Stein
A man and a woman are smiling.
0143
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Finally, we highlight similar approaches undertaken by other groups (www.nature.com/articles/s41...; www.nature.com/articles/s41...; www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...). Together, these illustrate the potential of population scale sequencing to create and study novel phenotypes. Exciting times ahead!
120
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
We are also grateful to many additional collaborators who helped with certain aspects of the analysis and/or supported us during the revision process, in particular @yuki-okada.bsky.social and his team💐! #teamscience
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
This was only possible thanks to an amazing team, spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social and supported by @evabeins.bsky.social, @madhusankhat.bsky.social, @davifri.bsky.social, @leofrach.bsky.social, @boztugk.bsky.social, plus others not on BlueSky.
120
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
In this study we use genome sequencing data from large population cohorts to identify factors that contribute to the viral load of EBV long time after primary infection. For more details, please also see the accompanying press release by @unibonn.bsky.social: www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/030-...
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
🖨️ Hot off the press 🍾 : I am super excited to share that our article on the host control of persistent EBV infection has just been published in Nature Magazine, in an accelerated article preview version: rdcu.be/e4Lg8
rdcu.be
Host control of persistent Epstein–Barr virus infection
Nature - Host control of persistent Epstein–Barr virus infection
32614
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Jill Moore @moorejille.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Our paper on the newest version of the Registry of candidate cis-Regulatory Elements (cCREs) is out 🧬 Huge thanks to the many collaborators, experimentalists, analysts and software developers who made this work possible — truly a team effort! A "meme-torial" of the science is coming soon 👀
nature.com
An expanded registry of candidate cis-regulatory elements - Nature
The existing ENCODE registry of candidate human and mouse cis-regulatory elements is expanded with the addition of new ENCODE data, integrating new functional data as well as new cell and tissue types...
15731
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Congratulations!! Exciting news and super well deserved! 🥳🥳🥳
030
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Ubadah Sabbagh @ubadahsabbagh.com · 15/10/2025
Woah just discovered this formatmypaper.com
formatmypaper.com
FormatMyPaper - The End of Manuscript Formatting
Paste your paper, choose your journal, and let our AI handle the tedious rest. Get back to the science.
063
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
I finally made (it on) my first cover 🤣 🥳!! Congratulations to @hggadvances.bsky.social, and all my fellow co-editors, for establishing a great genomics journal. And to all authors: if your manuscript still needs a home, consider submitting with us. We would be delighted to handle your paper 🫶 💪.
063
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Leonard Frach @leofrach.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Very exciting preprint by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, @kuludwig.bsky.social and team! Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
042
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Thanks for reading till the end, and looking forward to hear your thoughts! @unibonn.bsky.social, @immunosens.bsky.social, @juhumgen.bsky.social, #EBV, #autoimmunity, #immune
000
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
This project was a tremendous team effort - thanks to our collaborators who are on BlueSky @madhusankhat.bsky.social, @leofrach.bsky.social, @davifri.bsky.social, @boztugk.bsky.social, @evabeins.bsky.social, and those who are not.
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
We would like to highlight a parallel preprint from @caleblareau.bsky.social lab. Despite a different focus, and way of defining EBVread+, the results of the analyses that are shared (e.g. GWAS) are highly consistent. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Population-scale sequencing resolves correlates and determinants of latent Epstein-Barr Virus infection
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is an endemic herpesvirus implicated in autoimmunity, cancer, and neurological disorders. Though primary infection typically resolves with subclinical symptoms, long-term comp...
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
There is much more to explore in the paper - just give it a read! Our systematic exploration of host-EBV interaction during latency will help to better understand EBV-associated diseases, identify molecular drug targets and fuel the identification of novel IEIs.
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Additional associations were found with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and hypothyroidism, some of which (RA & T1D) even got further support from Mendelian Randomization.
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Aggregating the common variants into risk scores, we found that a genetically-predicted EBVread+ based on MHC-I HLA alleles was associated with higher risk of Multiple Sclerosis (driven by HLA-A*02:01), while that of MHC-II HLA alleles was associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Reassuringly, common variants were enriched in known genes underlying inborn errors of immunity (IEI).
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Turning to genetics, a GWAS for EBVread+ in UKB identified striking associations at the MHC region, plus 27 loci outside of MHC, most of which were replicated in AoU. Genes at associated loci include ERAP2, CTLA4, CD70.
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Exploring which non-genetic factors determine EBVread+, we found strong associations with HIV infection & immunosuppression. When affected individuals were excluded, additional contributors were current (but not former) smoking, male sex, age, GS yield and, interestingly, seasonal time of sampling.
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
We show, by simulations and additional analyses, that the individuals we capture as EBVread+ are those harboring large amounts of EBV-DNA, indicating insufficient EBV control
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
We detected EBVreads in 16.2% of 486,315 UKB participants, and this measure (=EBVread+) showed a high specificity when compared to serology data that is available of a subset of individuals. Similar read distributions were obtained in the analysis of 336,123 blood-based GS in All of Us (AoU).
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
EBV persists lifelong in B cells - allowing it to be captured as part of genome sequencing (GS) of human blood. Such reads are usually discarded, but we extracted them for all individuals of UK Biobank (UKB). During extensive QC, we identified and removed ca. 50 library plates contaminated with EBV
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
EBV is a DNA-virus of major relevance to human health - it is associated with several autoimmune diseases and cancers. Ca. 95% of the adult population has been infected with EBV, mostly without any symptoms, which makes it hard to be studied by serology.
110
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
🔔Paper alert! Extremely excited to share a preprint from our lab! Spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, a super talented medical & computational geneticist, we studied latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection at population-scale. Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
12312
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Sriram Pendyala @treependyala.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
🚨 Most variant screens measure growth or abundance. What do they miss? That variants impact a spectrum of protein and cellular phenotypes. Variant in situ sequencing (VIS-seq) finds what’s missing: image cells 🔬 first, decode later, revealing multi-scale phenotypes for thousands of variants.👇 1/9
35118
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
mspielmann.bsky.social @mspielmann.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
🚀 Thrilled to share our new review on how structural variants reshape 3D genome architecture and cause disease! 🧬🔀 Out now in Nature Reviews Genetics: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #3D-Genome #StructuralVariants #uksh
nature.com
Structural variants in the 3D genome as drivers of disease - Nature Reviews Genetics
Disruption of the 3D genome caused by structural variation contributes to developmental disorders and cancer. The authors review the causes and molecular and clinical consequences of position effects ...
04016
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
So exciting - congratulations!!! 💐🎊👍
000
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Congratulations, this sounds awesome! Looking forward to get this data presented live when you visit us in Bonn forward our Summer School 🎊🤣 @immunosens.bsky.social
110
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Annique Claringbould @anniquec.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Justified standing ovation for Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó at #ESHG2025 She shared her adventurous scientific life and life lessons like "If you want to do something, you find a way. If not, you find excuses", and reminded us scientists to thank our near and dear because "they suffer a little bit"
0438
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Yes, I know someone from the Bonn group (not on Bluesky, though)! Can you Email me, so that I can forward it?
100
Kerstin Ludwig @kuludwig.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Congratulations to everyone involved! 🎊💐
010
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation @immunosens.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Hurray! ImmunoSensation will go on! 🥳 The @dfg.de just announced that ImmunoSensation3, focussing on Immune Diversity will be funded! Let us #celebrate 7 more years of #immunology in #Bonn 🎉 www.immunosensation.de/news/immunos...
immunosensation.de
Excellence Strategy Funds Bonn Cluster for Immune Research
The Bonn Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation will be funded for a further seven years as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state…
24411
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
The German Human Genome-Phenome Archive @ghga.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
🧬 Today! Prof. Rami Abou Jamra (Uni Leipzig) speaks on "Genome sequencing for rare disease diagnostics" at the GHGA lecture series Advances in Data-Driven Biomedicine. Don’t miss it! 📅 May 21 | ⏰ 4PM 🔗 Register: dkfz-de.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #Genomics #RareDiseases #GHGA
Image is a digitally created announcement card in the GHGA colours, light green and orange. The text reads ""Genome sequencing for rare disease diagnostics: uncovering hidden causal variants 21.05. 2025, 16:00 CEST" below is a photo of the speaker and his name, Rami Abou Jamra.
001
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Isabelle Zane @isabellease.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
@nickywhiffin.bsky.social at #VariantEffect25
0174
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Jonathan Frazer @jonnyfrazer.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Good morning #VariantEffect25! Kicking things off we have Mafalda Dias, @bennibolo.bsky.social @muffley.bsky.social welcoming us to this 8th annual symposium. We have 250 in-person participants, 60 people online, from 20 countries!
0148
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Jonathan Frazer @jonnyfrazer.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Diving into the 1st session of #VariantEffect25 we have David Adams @davidjadams.bsky.social from the Wellcome Sanger Institute presenting “Decoding Cancer: Clinical and Functional Roles of Nucleotide Variants in Cancer Genes”
073
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
jsb-lab.bsky.social @jsb-lab.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Can AI-designed binders degrade, aggregate, stain and enrich endogenous proteins in human cells? Check out our new preprint! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Transposon-Display of AI-designed binders enables manipulation of the proteome in human cells
Transposon-Display is a highly scalable screening method that links proteins to their encoding DNA during expression in E. coli via a mutant transposase. Leveraging this system, we identified AI-desig...
1105
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Anna Cuomo @annasecuomo.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
📢 new preprint alert: So so excited to share our analysis on the impact of common and rare variants on single-cell gene expression in blood, using WGS and scRNA-seq data from nearly 2,000 individuals and 5.4m cells as part of TenK10K phase 1 🧬 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵👇 (1/n)
210131
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Vaughn Smider, MD, PhD @vvsmider.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
My story: I’m a single father and cancer researcher whose wife died of a rare cancer. Science and biomedical research is personal to me. Here is my op-ed in my hometown newspaper. Pls fwd. www.vindy.com/opinion/edit...
vindy.com
DOGE ends America’s golden age of biomedical research
Biomedical research impacts all of us. I became curious about how drugs work after my mom was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was a small boy. She received “gold shots” as treatment, which ...
11533282
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Marios Georgakis @mariosgeorgakis.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Key reads from last week on human genetics, multiomics, and precision medicine 🧵 1⃣New e/sQTL resource from TOPMed In 14,324 whole blood & tissue samples the study detects cis- and trans-e/sQTLs and colocalizes them with 10,000 GWAS signals for 164 traits. 🔗 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
1108
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Jonathan Pritchard @jkpritch.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Modern GWAS can identify 1000s of significant hits but it can be hard to turn this into biological insight. What key cellular functions link genetic variation to disease? I'm very excited to present our new work combining associations and Perturb-seq to build interpretable causal graphs! A 🧵
6319118
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Nathalie Jurisch-Yaksi @nathaliejuya.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Decoding cilia signaling and function by the one and only @wachtenlab.bsky.social Thanks for delivering a fantastic #FEBS national lecture at the Norwegian bioscience society winter meeting.
0165
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Yoav Gilad @ygilad.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Friends and colleagues, I’ve written a book on effective functional genomics study design, which will be available on Amazon in a couple of weeks. Sharing the TOC to spark interest. I hope students and those planning genomics experiments will find it useful! I’ll share updates soon
69937
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Axel Visel @axelvisel.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Now available as preprint: The ENCODE 4 expanded registry of regulatory elements - 2.35M 🧍 human cCREs - 927k 🐭 mouse cCREs www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by @moorejille.bsky.social, this preprint summarizes data and analyses generated by hundreds of contributors across ENCODE 4
Schematic overview of the ENCODE 4 project's framework for identifying and classifying candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs). The process begins by defining regulatory anchors, such as DNase hypersensitive sites (rDHSs) and transcription factor (TF) clusters, which are filtered and classified using histone marks and other features. Elements are classified into functional categories, including promoters, proximal and distal enhancers, and CTCF-bound sites. The resulting registry includes millions of cCREs for human (GRCh38) and mouse (mm10), depicted alongside their classifications. Additional annotations, such as transcription activity, chromatin structure, genetic variation, and sequence motifs, are integrated for functional characterization. Image modified from https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.26.629296v1.full
26834
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Eva C. Schulte @evacschulte.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Happy to share our newest work on #covid19 #hostgenetics ! An analysis of >1000 whole genomes with @kuludwig.bsky.social and Axel Schmidt at University of Bonn and Uniklinik Bonn, the DeCOI consortium and many colleagues from around Germany & beyond. #plospathogens journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org
Systematic assessment of COVID-19 host genetics using whole genome sequencing data
Author summary After infection with SARS-CoV-2, symptoms vary widely. On average, individuals who are older, males and those with certain comorbidities tend to be more severely affected by COVID-19. A...
013
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Shweta Ramdas @shwetaramdas.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Our mentor Casey Brown, apart from being an extraordinary scientist, was a brilliant teacher who loved everything genetics. In his honor, some of the world's leading experts came together to create the 'Casey Brown Lecture Series' on human genetics 1/ shorturl.at/eCm7S
shorturl.at
Casey Brown Lecture Series - YouTube
14732
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Vaccination significantly reduced #LongCovid in children and adolescents among ~300,000 kids and teens www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...
Effect during Delta and Omicron
341154411
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Wei-Lin Qiu @613weilin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Excited to share our latest preprint on scE2G – a new model to link enhancers to target genes using single-cell data – with state-of-the-art performance across multiple perturbation benchmarks. biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... Read more below! 1/12
biorxiv.org
Mapping enhancer-gene regulatory interactions from single-cell data
Mapping enhancers and their target genes in specific cell types is crucial for understanding gene regulation and human disease genetics. However, accurately predicting enhancer-gene regulatory interac...
14320
Reposted by Kerstin Ludwig
Shai Carmi @shaicarmi.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Very interesting work by Tade Souaiaia et al on the non-polygenic architecture of the extremes of complex traits. For many traits, polygenic scores show "regression to the mean" around the tails, as extreme traits are mostly due to rare alleles. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
14316