Overview
Background
Dr Loic Yengo is an Associate Professor at The University of Queensland (UQ) and Group Leader of the Statistical Genomics Laboratory within UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience. After completing a PhD in applied mathematics and statistics at the University of Lille (France) in 2014, he joined UQ in 2016 for postdoctoral training in Quantitative and Statistical Genetics. Loic started his own lab in 2020 to investigate the causes and consequences of genetic variation within and between human populations. His group develops and applies novel statistical methods to analyse large volumes of genomic data. Loic’s research has contributed to improving understanding of the genetic and phenotypic consequences of non-random mating (inbreeding and assortative mating) in human populations and has led to identifying novel genetic variants associated with complex traits and diseases. Loic was named among the top 40 rising stars of research by The Australian newspaper in 2021 and received the UQ Foundation research excellence award the same year. Loic is the 2022 recipient of the Ruth Stephens Gani Medal of the Australian Academy of Science recognizing outstanding contributions to research in human genetics, and was named in Nature Medicine’s 2022 Yearbook among 11 early-career researchers “to watch”.
Availability
- Associate Professor Loic Yengo is:
- Available for supervision
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Université Lille 1 - Sciences et Technologies
Research impacts
The research in the Yengo Lab contributes to the discovery of genes and biological pathways involved in the etiology of multifactorial diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. The ultimate goal of our research is to better understand what genes underlie inter-individual variation in disease susceptibility and help translate that knowledge into new and personalised therapies.
Works
Search Professor Loic Yengo’s works on UQ eSpace
2013
Journal Article
Parental history of type 2 diabetes, TCF7L2 variant and lower insulin secretion are associated with incident hypertension. Data from the DESIR and RISC cohorts
Bonnet, Fabrice, Roussel, Ronan, Natali, Andrea, Cauchi, Stephane, Petrie, John, Laville, Martine, Yengo, Loic, Froguel, Philippe, Lange, Celine, Lantieri, Olivier, Marre, Michel, Balkau, Beverley and Ferrannini, Ele (2013). Parental history of type 2 diabetes, TCF7L2 variant and lower insulin secretion are associated with incident hypertension. Data from the DESIR and RISC cohorts. Diabetologia, 56 (11), 2414-2423. doi: 10.1007/s00125-013-3021-y
2013
Journal Article
Common variants near BDNF and SH2B1 show nominal evidence of association with snacking behavior in European populations
Robiou-du-Pont, Sebastien, Yengo, Loic, Vaillant, Emmanuel, Lobbens, Stephane, Durand, Emmanuelle, Horber, Fritz, Lantieri, Olivier, Marre, Michel, Balkau, Beverley, Froguel, Philippe and Meyre, David (2013). Common variants near BDNF and SH2B1 show nominal evidence of association with snacking behavior in European populations. Journal of Molecular Medicine, 91 (9), 1109-1115. doi: 10.1007/s00109-013-1027-z
2013
Journal Article
Association between large detectable clonal mosaicism and type 2 diabetes with vascular complications
Bonnefond, Amelie, Skrobek, Boris, Lobbens, Stephane, Eury, Elodie, Thuillier, Dorothee, Cauchi, Stephane, Lantieri, Olivier, Balkau, Beverley, Riboli, Elio, Marre, Michel, Charpentier, Guillaume, Yengo, Loic and Froguel, Philippe (2013). Association between large detectable clonal mosaicism and type 2 diabetes with vascular complications. Nature Genetics, 45 (9), 1040-1043. doi: 10.1038/ng.2700
2013
Journal Article
Identification of heart rate-associated loci and their effects on cardiac conduction and rhythm disorders
den Hoed, Marcel, Eijgelsheim, Mark, Esko, Tonu, Brundel, Bianca J. J. M., Peal, David S., Evans, David M., Nolte, Ilja M., Segre, Ayellet V., Holm, Hilma, Handsaker, Robert E., Westra, Harm-Jan, Johnson, Toby, Isaacs, Aaron, Yang, Jian, Lundby, Alicia, Zhao, Jing Hua, Kim, Young Jin, Go, Min Jin, Almgren, Peter, Bochud, Murielle, Boucher, Gabrielle, Cornelis, Marilyn C., Gudbjartsson, Daniel, Hadley, David, van der Harst, Pim, Hayward, Caroline, den Heijer, Martin, Igl, Wilmar, Jackson, Anne U. ... Loos, Ruth J. F. (2013). Identification of heart rate-associated loci and their effects on cardiac conduction and rhythm disorders. Nature Genetics, 45 (6), 621-634. doi: 10.1038/ng.2610
2013
Journal Article
Transcription factor gene MNX1 is a novel cause of permanent neonatal diabetes in a consanguineous family
Bonnefond, A., Vaillant, E., Philippe, J., Skrobek, B., Lobbens, S., Yengo, L., Huyvaert, M., Cave, H., Busiah, K., Scharfmann, R., Polak, M., Abdul-Rasoul, M., Froguel, P. and Vaxillaire, M. (2013). Transcription factor gene MNX1 is a novel cause of permanent neonatal diabetes in a consanguineous family. Diabetes and Metabolism, 39 (3), 276-280. doi: 10.1016/j.diabet.2013.02.007
2013
Journal Article
Reassessment of the putative role of BLK-p.A71T loss-of-function mutation in MODY and type 2 diabetes
Bonnefond, A., Yengo, L., Philippe, J., Dechaume, A., Ezzidi, I., Vaillant, E., Gjesing, A. P., Andersson, E. A., Czernichow, S., Hercberg, S., Hadjadj, S., Charpentier, G., Lantieri, O., Balkau, B., Marre, M., Pedersen, O., Hansen, T., Froguel, P. and Vaxillaire, M. (2013). Reassessment of the putative role of BLK-p.A71T loss-of-function mutation in MODY and type 2 diabetes. Diabetologia, 56 (3), 492-496. doi: 10.1007/s00125-012-2794-8
2013
Journal Article
Exome sequencing-driven discovery of coding polymorphisms associated with common metabolic phenotypes
Albrechtsen, A., Grarup, N., Li, Y., Sparso, T., Tian, G., Cao, H., Jiang, T., Kim, S. Y., Korneliussen, T., Li, Q., Nie, C., Wu, R., Skotte, L., Morris, A. P., Ladenvall, C., Cauchi, S., Stancakova, A., Andersen, G., Astrup, A., Banasik, K., Bennett, A. J., Bolund, L., Charpentier, G., Chen, Y., Dekker, J. M., Doney, A. S. F., Dorkhan, M., Forsen, T., Frayling, T. M. ... Pedersen, O. (2013). Exome sequencing-driven discovery of coding polymorphisms associated with common metabolic phenotypes. Diabetologia, 56 (2), 298-310. doi: 10.1007/s00125-012-2756-1
2013
Journal Article
Analysis of the contribution of FTO, NPC1, ENPP1, NEGR1, GNPDA2 and MC4R genes to obesity in Mexican children
Mejia-Benitez, Aurora, Kluender-Kluender, Miguel, Yengo, Loic, Meyre, David, Aradillas, Celia, Cruz, Esperanza, Perez-Luque, Elva, Manuel Malacara, Juan, Eugenia Garay, Maria, Peralta-Romero, Jesus, Flores-Huerta, Samuel, Garcia-Mena, Jaime, Froguel, Philippe, Cruz, Miguel and Bonnefond, Amelie (2013). Analysis of the contribution of FTO, NPC1, ENPP1, NEGR1, GNPDA2 and MC4R genes to obesity in Mexican children. Bmc Medical Genetics, 14 (1) 21. doi: 10.1186/1471-2350-14-21
2013
Journal Article
Genome-wide association analyses identify 18 new loci associated with serum urate concentrations
Koettgen, Anna, Albrecht, Eva, Teumer, Alexander, Vitart, Veronique, Krumsiek, Jan, Hundertmark, Claudia, Pistis, Giorgio, Ruggiero, Daniela, O'Seaghdha, Conall M., Haller, Toomas, Yang, Qiong, Tanaka, Toshiko, Johnson, Andrew D., Kutalik, Zoltan, Smith, Albert V., Shi, Julia, Struchalin, Maksim, Middelberg, Rita P. S., Brown, Morris J., Gaffo, Angelo L., Pirastu, Nicola, Li, Guo, Hayward, Caroline, Zemunik, Tatijana, Huffman, Jennifer, Yengo, Loic, Zhao, Jing Hua, Demirkan, Ayse, Feitosa, Mary F. ... Gieger, Christian (2013). Genome-wide association analyses identify 18 new loci associated with serum urate concentrations. Nature Genetics, 45 (2), 145-154. doi: 10.1038/ng.2500
2013
Journal Article
GUESS-ing Polygenic Associations with Multiple Phenotypes Using a GPU-Based Evolutionary Stochastic Search Algorithm
Bottolo, Leonardo, Chadeau-Hyam, Marc, Hastie, David I., Zeller, Tanja, Liquet, Benoit, Newcombe, Paul, Yengo, Loic, Wild, Philipp S., Schillert, Arne, Ziegler, Andreas, Nielsen, Sune F., Butterworth, Adam S., Ho, Weang Kee, Castagne, Raphaele, Munzel, Thomas, Tregouet, David, Falchi, Mario, Cambien, Francois, Nordestgaard, Borge G., Fumeron, Frederic, Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne, Froguel, Philippe, Danesh, John, Petretto, Enrico, Blankenberg, Stefan, Tiret, Laurence and Richardson, Sylvia (2013). GUESS-ing Polygenic Associations with Multiple Phenotypes Using a GPU-Based Evolutionary Stochastic Search Algorithm. PLoS Genetics, 9 (8) e1003657, e1003657. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003657
2013
Journal Article
Contribution of 24 obesity-associated genetic variants to insulin resistance, pancreatic beta-cell function and type 2 diabetes risk in the French population
Robiou-du-Pont, S., Bonnefond, A., Yengo, L., Vaillant, E., Lobbens, S., Durand, E., Weill, J., Lantieri, O., Balkau, B., Charpentier, G., Marre, M., Froguel, P. and Meyre, D. (2013). Contribution of 24 obesity-associated genetic variants to insulin resistance, pancreatic beta-cell function and type 2 diabetes risk in the French population. International Journal of Obesity, 37 (7), 980-985. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2012.175
2012
Journal Article
European genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes in North African Arabs
Cauchi, S., Ezzidi, I., El Achhab, Y., Mtiraoui, N., Chaieb, L., Salah, D., Nejjari, C., Labrune, Y., Yengo, L., Beury, D., Vaxillaire, M., Mahjoub, T., Chikri, M. and Froguel, P. (2012). European genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes in North African Arabs. Diabetes and Metabolism, 38 (4), 316-323. doi: 10.1016/j.diabet.2012.02.003
2012
Journal Article
Large-scale association analysis provides insights into the genetic architecture and pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes
Morris, Andrew P., Voight, Benjamin F., Teslovich, Tanya M., Ferreira, Teresa, Segre, Ayellet V., Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur, Strawbridge, Rona J., Khan, Hassan, Grallert, Harald, Mahajan, Anubha, Prokopenko, Inga, Kang, Hyun Min, Dina, Christian, Esko, Tonu, Fraser, Ross M., Kanoni, Stavroula, Kumar, Ashish, Lagou, Vasiliki, Langenberg, Claudia, Luan, Jian'an, Lindgren, Cecilia M., Mueller-Nurasyid, Martina, Pechlivanis, Sonali, Rayner, N. William, Scott, Laura J., Wiltshire, Steven, Yengo, Loic, Kinnunen, Leena, Rossin, Elizabeth J. ... Shah, Sonia (2012). Large-scale association analysis provides insights into the genetic architecture and pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes. Nature Genetics, 44 (9), 981-990. doi: 10.1038/ng.2383
2012
Journal Article
Meta-analysis identifies multiple loci associated with kidney function-related traits in east Asian populations
Okada, Y., Sim, X., Go, M. J., Wu, J. Y., Gu, D., Takeuchi, F., Takahashi, A., Maeda, S., Tsunoda, T., Chen, P., Lim, S. C., Wong, T. Y., Liu, J., Young, T. L., Aung, T., Seielstad, M., Teo, Y. Y., Kim, Y. J., Lee, J. Y., Han, B. g., Kang, D., Chen, C. h., Tsai, F. j., Chang, L. c., Fann, S. j., Mei, H., Rao, D. c., Hixson, J. e., Chen, S. ... Gieger, C. (2012). Meta-analysis identifies multiple loci associated with kidney function-related traits in east Asian populations. Nature Genetics, 44 (8), 904-909. doi: 10.1038/ng.2352
2012
Journal Article
Stratifying type 2 diabetes cases by BMI identifies genetic risk variants in LAMA1 and enrichment for risk variants in lean compared to obese cases
Perry, John R. B., Voight, Benjamin F., Yengo, Loic, Amin, Najaf, Dupuis, Josee, Ganser, Martha, Grallert, Harald, Navarro, Pau, Li, Man, Qi, Lu, Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur, Scott, Robert A., Almgren, Peter, Arking, Dan E., Aulchenko, Yurii, Balkau, Beverley, Benediktsson, Rafn, Bergman, Richard N., Boerwinkle, Eric, Bonnycastle, Lori, Burtt, Noel P., Campbell, Harry, Charpentier, Guillaume, Collins, Francis S., Gieger, Christian, Green, Todd, Hadjadj, Samy, Hattersley, Andrew T., Herder, Christian ... Cauchi, Stephane (2012). Stratifying type 2 diabetes cases by BMI identifies genetic risk variants in LAMA1 and enrichment for risk variants in lean compared to obese cases. Plos Genetics, 8 (5) e1002741, e1002741. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002741
2012
Journal Article
Dysfunction of lipid sensor GPR120 leads to obesity in both mouse and human
Ichimura, Atsuhiko, Hirasawa, Akira, Poulain-Godefroy, Odile, Bonnefond, Amelie, Hara, Takafumi, Yengo, Loic, Kimura, Ikuo, Leloire, Audrey, Liu, Ning, Iida, Keiko, Choquet, Helene, Besnard, Philippe, Lecoeur, Cecile, Vivequin, Sidonie, Ayukawa, Kumiko, Takeuchi, Masato, Ozawa, Kentaro, Tauber, Maithe, Maffeis, Claudio, Morandi, Anita, Buzzetti, Raffaella, Elliott, Paul, Pouta, Anneli, Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta, Koerner, Antje, Kiess, Wieland, Pigeyre, Marie, Caiazzo, Roberto, Van Hul, Wim ... Froguel, Philippe (2012). Dysfunction of lipid sensor GPR120 leads to obesity in both mouse and human. Nature, 483 (7389), 350-354. doi: 10.1038/nature10798
2012
Journal Article
O53 - Alteration of the omega-3 unsaturated fatty acid receptor GPR120 leads to obesity in humans and mice O53 L'altération du récepteur des acides gras insaturés de type omega-3 GPR120 entraîne une obésité chez l'Homme et la Souris
Bonnefond, A., Poulain-Godefroy, O., Ichimura, A., Hirasawa, A., Yengo, L., Leloire, A., Choquet, H., Meyre, D., Pattou, F., Wolowczuk, I., Tsujimoto, G. and Froguel, P. (2012). O53 - Alteration of the omega-3 unsaturated fatty acid receptor GPR120 leads to obesity in humans and mice O53 L'altération du récepteur des acides gras insaturés de type omega-3 GPR120 entraîne une obésité chez l'Homme et la Souris. Diabetes and Metabolism, 38. doi: 10.1016/S1262-3636(12)71031-5
2012
Journal Article
Low-frequency variants in HMGA1 are not associated with type 2 diabetes risk
Marquez, Marcel, Huyvaert, Marlene, Perry, John R. B., Pearson, Richard D., Falchi, Mario, Morris, Andrew P., Vivequin, Sidonie, Lobbens, Stephane, Yengo, Loic, Gaget, Stefan, Pattou, Francois, Poulain-Godefroy, Odile, Charpentier, Guillaume, Carlsson, Lena M. S., Jacobson, Peter, Sjostrom, Lars, Lantieri, Olivier, Heude, Barbara, Walley, Andrew, Balkau, Beverley, Marre, Michel, Froguel, Philippe and Cauchi, Stephane (2012). Low-frequency variants in HMGA1 are not associated with type 2 diabetes risk. Diabetes, 61 (2), 524-530. doi: 10.2337/db11-0728
2012
Journal Article
Heterozygous mutations causing partial prohormone convertase 1 deficiency contribute to human obesity
Creemers, John W. M., Choquet, Helene, Stijnen, Pieter, Vatin, Vincent, Pigeyre, Marie, Beckers, Sigri, Meulemans, Sandra, Than, Manuel E., Yengo, Loic, Tauber, Maithe, Balkan, Beverley, Elliott, Paul, Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta, Van Hul, Wim, Van Gaal, Luc, Horber, Fritz, Pattou, Francois, Froguel, Philippe and Meyre, David (2012). Heterozygous mutations causing partial prohormone convertase 1 deficiency contribute to human obesity. Diabetes, 61 (2), 383-390. doi: 10.2337/db11-0305
2012
Journal Article
Rare MTNR1B variants impairing melatonin receptor 1B function contribute to type 2 diabetes
Bonnefond, Amelie, Clement, Nathalie, Fawcett, Katherine, Yengo, Loic, Vaillant, Emmanuel, Guillaume, Jean-Luc, Dechaume, Aurelie, Payne, Felicity, Roussel, Ronan, Czernichow, Sebastien, Hercberg, Serge, Hadjadj, Samy, Balkau, Beverley, Marre, Michel, Lantieri, Olivier, Langenberg, Claudia, Bouatia-Naji, Nabila, Charpentier, Guillaume, Vaxillaire, Martine, Rocheleau, Ghislain, Wareham, Nicholas J., Sladek, Robert, McCarthy, Mark I., Dina, Christian, Barroso, Ines, Jockers, Ralf and Froguel, Philippe (2012). Rare MTNR1B variants impairing melatonin receptor 1B function contribute to type 2 diabetes. Nature Genetics, 44 (3), 297-301. doi: 10.1038/ng.1053
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Loic Yengo is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
-
Genetic and Molecular consequences of non-random mating in humans
Short Project description. This projects aims at utilising genetic and phenotypic data from ~500,000 participants of the UK Biobank to investigate phenotypic and genetic patterns induced by non-random mating in humans. Two forms of non-random mating will be investigated: assortative mating (resemblance between spouses) and inbreeding (mating between relatives). Findings from this project have implications in the analysis and interpretation of genome-wide association studies. The project will involve advanced modelling and statistical analyses of large volumes of data (genotyped and imputed SNP data, whole-exome sequencing, gene-expression, brain-imaging derived-traits).
Candidate. Candidates with a background in quantitative/population genetics, statistics, mathematics and other quantitative fields will be considered. Programming skills (R, python, C/C++) and prior experience in analysing genetic data (e.g. GWAS) is desirable. (Note: if required, lectures on fundamental concepts of quantitative and population genetics can be taken as part of the PhD training).
The Team. The successful candidate will be doing their research within the Program in Complex Traits Genomics (PCTG) Lab co-led by Professors Jian Yang, Naomi Wray and Peter Visscher, who are internationally recognized leaders in the field of complex traits genetics and have been recently listed among the world’s top one per cent most cited researchers of their field. PCTG provides a stimulating and highly interdisciplinary environment for PhD candidates to form and develop their research.
PhD advisor. Dr Loic Yengo is a senior research officer of the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, Australia; and the Statistical Genetics Team leader within PCTG. He did his PhD in applied mathematics and is an expert in statistical modelling and analysis of genetic data. His research interests intersect quantitative genetics, genetic epidemiology and sociogenomics.
Expected start. First semester of 2020.
Contact. If you’re interested, please send your CV and cover letter and two references to Dr Loic Yengo: l.yengo@imb.uq.edu.au
URLs
The team PCTG: http://cnsgenomics.com/
PhD advisor: https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=iv8dxlIAAAAJ&hl=en
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Investigating the time and tissue dependent genetic architecture of complex traits
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Nicole Warrington
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Doctor Philosophy
Genomic signature of non-random mating in human complex traits
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Peter Visscher
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Doctor Philosophy
Statistical methods and application to analyses genome and trait data from large biobanks
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Kathryn Kemper, Professor Peter Visscher
Completed supervision
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2021
Doctor Philosophy
Within and Across Populations Complex Traits and Diseases Prediction Using Summary Statistics from Large-scale Genome-wide Association Studies
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Peter Visscher
Media
Enquiries
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