Viking Genes

21/11/2025

Viking Genes Shetland were recently invited by TotalEnergies to give presentations to their workforce at the Shetland Gas Plant. It was a great opportunity to build awareness of the Shetland Community Screening Project. Thank you so much for hosting us!
Pictured left: Sandra Laurenson, chair of Viking Genes Shetland; Dale Robertson, Terminal Manager, TotalEnergies; Elaine Jamieson, Viking Genes Shetland; Lizzie Leask, TotalEnergies.

17/11/2025

A very poignant story of Shetland sailor grand-uncles who both died during the First World War: Arthur Harrison and James William Harrison 🌺

https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/real-stories/ann-bianchi-ian-elliott-great-uncles-sailors-first-world-war

Ann Bianchi and Ian Elliott discovered their great uncles were both sailors from Shetland who died in the First World War

17/11/2025

A beautiful photo and scene to start the week.
Orkney: November sky over Holm Sound by Prof Jim Flett Wilson. Stunning! 📸

11/11/2025

On this Remembrance Day, we remember Jim's grand-uncle, Stewart Wilson (1913-1943) of Springfield, Fair Isle, Shetland. Stewart, pictured far right (with sister Aggie and parents Jerry and Mary-Jean), fought and died in Tunisia during the Second World War. He was a Lance Corporal in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 8th Battalion, and is commemorated on the CWGC Medjez-El-Bab Memorial and Fair Isle War Memorial, respectively.
👇
https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/2054200/medjez-el-bab-memorial/

07/11/2025

UPDATED: All fixed! 😊
Hi everyone.
NOTICE: VIKING GENES FUND
We are sorry, our donation site is temporary unavailable but donations can still be paid via bank transfer. Many thanks! 😊
👇
You can pay your donation directly into our Bank of Scotland account via the details below:
Bank Bank of Scotland
Account name Univ of Edin Dev Trust B
Sort code 80-02-24
Account number 00423592
BIC BOFSGB2S
IBAN GB32 BOFS 8002 2400 4235 92
Please use ‘Viking Genes’ (if preferred use Viking Genes Shetland, Viking Genes Orkney or Viking Genes Hebrides) followed by your surname in the reference field and email fundraise@ed.ac.uk to let us know to look out for your donation.

07/11/2025

We can't believe it's a year since the Viking Genes Shetland Auction!
Little did we know that our amazing fundraisers would raise almost £16,000 for Viking Genes Shetland.
If you would like to remind yourself how they did it, and their inspiration, take a look at our webpage dedicated to their story:
👇
https://viking.ed.ac.uk/support-viking-genes/supporters-stories/viking-genes-online-auction

04/11/2025

Today is our 7 year anniversary on Social Media. Our supporters - exceeding 4,000 - really are the best! 🏆 We can't thank you enough for your support over the last 7 years. 👏 And we continue to grow and attract new followers each Month 😊
The image top left was our first proper post on Social Media: on 13th November 2018, Prof. Jim Flett Wilson gave a very fascinating talk on populations and complex traits at the Genes, Development and Populations conference, to celebrate Nick Hastie's life in science, at the Royal College of Physicians.

24/10/2025

Today is Day - a fundraising event for Breast Cancer Now during .
Here at Viking Genes, we are also playing our part in the fight against breast cancer, through research and our pioneering return of results programme. Back in 2024, Christine described how a letter from us changed the course of her life: 👇

Christine has lived her whole life in Shetland. She is a volunteer in VIKING I. As part of the Viking Genes return of results programme, Christine found out in 2023 that she was a carrier of the Whalsay BRCA2 variant, which can cause breast and ovarian cancer.

17/10/2025

Viking Genes Chief Investigator, Prof Jim Flett Wilson, pictured today with his research poster at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in Boston, USA. Thanks Jim!

17/10/2025

Viking Genes are at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting in Boston, USA, this week. Our PhD student, Ben Fletcher, is pictured here getting ready to talk to other researchers at the conference about Viking Genes. Thanks Ben!

16/10/2025

Have you changed email address or home address recently?
We like to have your details up-to-date for all correspondence. Please let us know any changes by email at viking@ed.ac.uk or by using our website's webform: 👇https://viking.ed.ac.uk/update-my-details
Thank you! 😊

10/10/2025

This time last year we published our collaborative research - which included data from Viking Genes volunteers - that paves the way for potential new drug targets or drug repurposing for treating mental health conditions. To read more, click below: 👇
https://viking.ed.ac.uk/how-youre-helping-research/genetics-brain-related-proteins-behaviour-psychiatric-disorders

Human Technopole Fudan University