Courses Overview

We regularly run two short courses on Mendelian Randomization techniques. The first is an introduction to MR techniques, based on our book “Mendelian randomization: Methods for using genetic variants in causal estimation”. The second, ‘Genetics in Drug Development’, covers how MR techniques can be used in drug discovery and can be studied as a follow-on to the main MR course or as a standalone module.

Courses typically take place in March and November. Currently, both take place online through the University of Cambridge’s Moodle platform and involve a mixture of recorded video lectures, live interactive sessions, and an online community that allows for interaction with peers and tutors throughout the course. Both will be delivered via our online learning platform for the foreseeable future.

An overview of the courses can be found below. For more details, including the timetable and registration period for upcoming courses, you can visit the respective course pages by mousing over the course tab above or using the links below.

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Courses Overview

Mendelian randomization course

Genetics in Drug Development course

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Mendelian Randomization course

Description: Studies based on Mendelian randomization are increasingly being used to distinguish causal relationships from observational associations in epidemiology and to prioritize potential targets for pharmaceutical intervention. This course intends to explain both simple and more complex statistical methods for causal inference in Mendelian randomization studies, and the instrumental variable assumptions on which they are based. The course includes several computing practicals in R.

Duration: 3 weeks, 4 live sessions per week (x2 courses per year)

Course Tutors: Dr Stephen Burgess (MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge), Dr Ville Karhunen (MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge), Nasir Bashir (MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge), Dr Ang Zhou (MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge), Dr Amy Mason (Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge), Dr Dipender Gill (Sequoia Genetics/Imperial College London)

Genetics in Drug Development course

Description: The majority of biologic and small molecule drugs perturb protein targets to exert their effects. With the recent explosion in the availability of large-scale genetic association data, it is increasingly feasible to identify genetic variants that proxy the effect of perturbing a protein drug target. Such leverage of genetic data thus offers an efficient and cost-effective approach for identifying drug targets and studying their effects. While this course is entirely self-contained, it follows on naturally from the Mendelian Randomization course. Participants who are interested in both topics may wish to apply for both courses.

Duration: 1 week, 5 live sessions (x2 courses per year)

Course Tutors: Dr Dipender Gill, (Novo Nordisk/Imperial College London), Dr Ville Karhunen (University of Oulu), Dr David Ryan (University College London), Dr Stephen Burgess (MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge)

For further information about the course, please contact: burgess-group-admin@mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk