Sufyan Suleman

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University

Aarhus, Denmark · 2024-09 - Present

Shared genetic architecture and biological mechanisms of obesity and ADHD.

• Polygenic risk scoring for ADHD and BMI using SBayesRC with 98 functional annotations in UK Biobank (~500,000 individuals)
• PheWAS pipeline across 1,434 ICD-10 phecodes
• Bidirectional Mendelian randomisation between BMI and ADHD
• Integrative genomics for shared biological pathways
• CellProfiler-derived adipose tissue imaging feature integration (137 donors)

Affiliate Scientist, NNF Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Cambridge, MA, USA · 2024-09 - Present

PhD, Statistical Genetics / Genomic Physiology, Translational Metabolic Research

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen · Copenhagen, Denmark · 2021-06 - 2024-11

Thesis: Genetics of insulin sensitivity and implications for T2D, obesity, and cardiovascular disease

Funding: Novo Nordisk Foundation, co-funded by the Danish Independent Research Fund (DFF)

MSc, Protein Science and Biotechnology (major: Biochemistry)

University of Oulu · Oulu, Finland · 2014 - 2017

Thesis: Functional annotation of prostate cancer risk variants identifies RGS17 as a disease susceptibility gene

BSc (Hons), Biotechnology

Govt. College University Lahore · Lahore, Pakistan · 2006 - 2010

Visiting Researcher, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark · 2024-04 - 2024-05

• Studied diabetic complications using proteomics and genomics data

PhD Researcher, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark · 2021-06 - 2024-11

• GWAS of 21 insulin sensitivity indices across ~5,000 Danish individuals (Inter99, Holbæk)
• Developed three genetic risk scores for insulin resistance subtypes
• Validated genetic risk scores in the Holbæk paediatric cohort
• MAGIC consortium contribution (Nature Genetics, 2023)
• SpiroMeta consortium: 120 age-stratified GWAS analyses
• Co-applicant on grants to NNF, DDEA, and DFF
• GDPR data access applications for UK Biobank and Generation Scotland

Research Assistant, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark · 2019-09 - 2021-06

• GWAS of insulin resistance phenotypes
• Data preparation and QC pipelines on the Centre's HPC (Porus, later Esrum) and Computerome

Research Assistant, Wei lab (cancer functional genomics), Biocenter Oulu / Oulu University Hospital

Oulu, Finland · 2017-01 - 2019-08

• Prostate and breast cancer susceptibility locus functional genomics
• ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, CRISPR-Cas9
• Credited roles per paper: Cell (2018) assisted/performed experiments; Nature Communications (2018) performed experiments (SNPs-seq); Cancer Research (2018) methodology development, statistical/computational analysis, manuscript writing

Research Assistant, Vainio lab (developmental biology), Biocenter Oulu / Oulu University Hospital

Oulu, Finland · 2018-06 - 2019-08

• Regulatory genomics of type 1 diabetes and developmental biology
• Performed the Trisk 95/Triadin promoter luciferase reporter study for the Scientific Reports (2020) skin-glucose-biomarker paper
• Contributed to the lab's broader stem-cell and genome-editing biosensor research programme

Quality Control Inspector, Popular Chemical Works Ltd

Lahore, Pakistan · 2010-09 - 2013-04

• Pharmaceutical GMP QC: microbiological and chemical testing of raw and finished drugs
• Regulatory documentation and data entry

2026

• Unraveling the Genetic Basis of Glycogen Storage Diseases through Exome Sequencing: A Study in Pediatric Patients, Molecular SyndromologyDOI

2025

• Exploring the genetic intersection between obesity-associated genetic variants and insulin sensitivity indices, Scientific ReportsDOI
• Unraveling shared biological mechanisms of depression and Body Mass Index, European Journal of Human Genetics
• Unravelling the shared genetics and biological mechanisms of ADHD and obesity, European Journal of Human Genetics

2024

• Adult-based Genetic Risk Scores for Insulin Resistance Associate With Cardiometabolic Traits in Children and Adolescents, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & MetabolismDOI
• Genetic Underpinnings of Fasting and Oral Glucose-stimulated Based Insulin Sensitivity Indices, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & MetabolismDOI

2023

• Clinical exome sequencing reveals a novel pathogenic variant in KIF12 underlying cholestasis with highly variable phenotypes, Clinical GeneticsDOI
• Genome-wide association study and functional characterization identifies candidate genes for insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, Nature GeneticsDOI
• Identification of novel homozygous variants in FOXE3 and AP4M1 underlying congenital syndromic anophthalmia and microphthalmia, The Journal of Gene MedicineDOI

2022

• A novel nonsense variant in EXOC8 underlies a neurodevelopmental disorder, NeurogeneticsDOI
• Whole exome sequencing identified a novel splice donor site variant in interleukin 2 receptor alpha chain, ImmunogeneticsDOI

2020

• Trisk 95 as a novel skin mirror for normal and diabetic systemic glucose level, Scientific ReportsDOI

2018

• A Large-Scale, Exome-Wide Association Study of Han Chinese Women Identifies Three Novel Loci Predisposing to Breast Cancer, Cancer ResearchDOI
• Biology and Clinical Implications of the 19q13 Aggressive Prostate Cancer Susceptibility Locus, CellDOI
• High-throughput screening of prostate cancer risk loci by single nucleotide polymorphisms sequencing, Nature CommunicationsDOI

2017

• Abstract 1280: Functional characterization of prostate cancer risk loci by SNPs-seq and STARR-seq, Cancer ResearchDOI
• Combined immunotherapy for advanced prostate cancer: Empowering the T cell army, Asian Journal of UrologyDOI

Manuscripts in preparation

• Unraveling shared genetics and biological mechanisms of ADHD and obesity (First author, 2026)
• Unraveling shared biological mechanisms of depression and body mass index (Contributing author, 2025)

Talks

• Unravelling the shared genetics and biological mechanisms of ADHD and obesity, ESHG Annual Meeting 2025, 2025 (Oral presentation)
• Heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations of surrogate measures of insulin sensitivity and their association with metabolic traits, Metabolism Day, University of Copenhagen, 2023 (Presentation)
• Shared genetics of ADHD and obesity, World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, Glasgow, 2026 (Upcoming presentation)

Programming

Genetics tools

Statistics

Data resources

Infrastructure

Laboratory