Eleftheria Zeggini

Director of the Institute of Translational Genomics; Liesel Beckmann Distinguished Professor at Technical University Munich University Hospital; Metabolic and Computational Health (CONNECT) Programme Spokesperson

itg.office@helmholtz-munich.de

"Our research leverages big data in genetics and genomics for medically important human traits. We aim to translate insights from genomics into mechanisms of disease development and progression, shortening the path to translation and empowering precision medicine."

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Eleftheria works in the field of Translational Genomics. Her team develops and applies robust statistical and computational tools to integrate information gleaned from deep molecular, genomics and epidemiological approaches to address important biomedical research challenges.

"In 2018, I joined Helmholtz Munich, where I am the founding director of the Institute of Translational Genomics. I am interested in dissecting the role of sequence variation in human health and disease by coupling high-throughput sequencing technologies with the study of diverse populations and strategies linking electronic health records to genomics. Our activities are underpinned by the integration of big multi-omics data and by the development of computational and statistical approaches for the next generation of translational genomics studies.

I am committed to developing early-career researchers. I promote diversity and inclusion, and have a strong interest in capacity building.

I am a Liesel Beckmann Distinguished Professor and hold the Chair of Translational Genomics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) School of Medicine."

Big data Multi-omics Genomics Biomedical research Precision medicine Digital Health

since 2021

since 2020

since 2018

2008-2018

2006-2008

2004-2006

2003-2004

2003

1999

2026: Member of European Research Council (ERC) Scientific Council
2025: Delegate European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC)
2025: Honorary Doctorate, University of Thessaly, Faculty of Engineering
2024: Elected Member of Academia Europaea
2024: Greek Excellence Award
2022: National Representative to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Council
2021: Elected Member of The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
2021: Elected European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS Fellow), ELLIS unit Munich
2020: Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK
2020: Argo Award for Distinguished Greeks Abroad
2018: Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Cambridge
2018: Honorary Professor, University of Bristol

Bocher O, Arruda AL, Yoshiji S, Zhao C, Su CY, Yin X, Cammann D, Taylor HJ, Chen J, Suzuki K, Mandla R, Huerta-Chagoya A, Yang TY, Matsuda F, Mercader JM, Flannick J, Meigs JB, Wood AC, Vujkovic M, Voight BF, Spracklen CN, Rotter JI, Morris AP, Zeggini E

Unravelling the molecular mechanisms causal to type 2 diabetes across global populations and disease-relevant tissues

Soremekun O, Park Y-C, Tutino M, Kalungi A, Rayner NW, Nyirenda M, Fatumo S, Zeggini E

Linking the plasma proteome to genetics in individuals from continental Africa provides insights into type 2 diabetes pathogenesis

Arruda AL, Bocher O, Taylor HJ, Cammann D, Yoshiji S, Yin X, Zhao C, Chen J, Wood AC, Suzuki K, Mercader JM, Spracklen CN, Meigs JB, Vujkovic M, Smith GD, Rotter JI, Voight BF, Morris AP, Zeggini E

The effect of type 2 diabetes genetic predisposition on non-cardiovascular comorbidities

Helmholtz Health Prevention Task Force

Helmholtz Health task force to strengthen prevention research and its translation globally

Tutino M, Yu NY, Hatzikotoulas K, Park YC, Kreitmaier P, Katsoula G, Berner R, Casteels K, Elding Larsson H, Kordonouri O, Ołtarzewski M, Szypowska A, Ott R, Weiss A, Winkler C, Zapardiel-Gonzalo J, Petrera A, Hauck SM, Bonifacio E, Ziegler AG, Zeggini E

Genetics of circulating proteins in newborn babies at high risk of type 1 diabetes

Hatzikotoulas K, Southam L, Stefansdottir L, Boer CG, McDonald ML et al.

Translational genomics of osteoarthritis in 1,962,069 individuals

Rayner NW, Park YC, Fuchsberger C, Barysenka A, Zeggini E

Toward GDPR compliance with the Helmholtz Munich genotype imputation server

Bittner N, Shi C, Zhao D, Ding J, Southam L, Swift D, Kreitmaier P, Tutino M, Stergiou O, Cheung JTS, Katsoula G, Hankinson J, Wilkinson JM, Orozco G, Zeggini E

Primary osteoarthritis chondrocyte map of chromatin conformation reveals novel candidate effector genes

Suzuki K, Hatzikotoulas K, Southam L, et al.

Genetic drivers of heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology

Arruda AL, Morris AP, Zeggini E

Advancing equity in human genomics through tissue-specific multi-ancestry molecular data

Arruda AL, Hartley A, Katsoula G, Smith GD, Morris AP, Zeggini E

Genetic underpinning of the comorbidity between type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis

Kreitmaier P, Suderman M, Southam L, Coutinho de Almeida R, Hatzikotoulas K, Meulenbelt I, Steinberg J, Relton CL, Wilkinson JM, Zeggini E

An epigenome-wide view of osteoarthritis in primary tissues

Png G, Barysenka A, Repetto L, Navarro P, Shen X, Pietzner M, Wheeler E, Wareham NJ, Langenberg C, Tsafantakis E, Karaleftheri M, Dedoussis G, Mälarstig A, Wilson JF, Gilly A, Zeggini E

Mapping the serum proteome to neurological diseases using whole genome sequencing

Boer CG, Hatzikotoulas K, Southam L, Stefánsdóttir L, et al.

Deciphering osteoarthritis genetics across 826,690 individuals from 9 populations.

Steinberg J, Southam L, Roumeliotis TI, Clark MJ, Jayasuriya RL, Swift D, Shah KM, Butterfield NC, Brooks RA, McCaskie AW, Bassett JHD, Williams GR, Choudhary JS, Wilkinson JM, Zeggini E

A molecular quantitative trait locus map for osteoarthritis.

Gilly A, Park Y-C, Png G, Bjornland T, Southam L, Suveges D, Neumeyer S, Fischer I, Barysenka A, Rayner NW, Tsafantakis E, Karaleftheri M, Dedoussis G, Zeggini E

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of the cardiometabolic proteome.

Zeggini E, Baumann M, Götz M, Herzig S, Hrabe de Angelis M, Tschöp MH

Biomedical Research Goes Viral: Dangers and Opportunities.

Zeggini E, Gloyn AL, Barton AC, Wain LV

Translational genomics and precision medicine: Moving from the lab to the clinic.

Kuchenbaecker K, Telkar N, Reiker T, Walters RG, Lin K, Eriksson A, Gurdasani D, Gilly A, Southam L, Tsafantakis E, Karaleftheri M, Seeley J, Kamali A, Asiki G, Millwood IY, Holmes M, Du H, Guo Y, Understanding Society Scientific Group, Kumari M, Dedoussis G, Li L, Chen Z, Sandhu MS, Zeggini E

The transferability of lipid loci across African, Asian and European cohorts.

Tachmazidou I, Hatzikotoulas K, Southam L, Esparza-Gordillo J, Haberland V, Zheng J, Johnson T, Koprulu M, Zengini E, Steinberg J, Wilkinson JM, Bhatnagar S, Hoffman J, Buchan N, Suveges D, arcOGEN Consortium, Yerges Armstrong L, Davey Smith G, Gaunt TR, Scott RA, McCarthy LC, Zeggini E

Identification of new therapeutic targets for osteoarthritis through genome-wide analyses of UK Biobank data.

Gilly A, Suveges D, Kuchenbaecker K, Pollard M, Southam L, Hatzikotoulas K, Farmaki AE, Bjornland T, Waples R, Appel EV, Casalone E, Melloni G, Kilian B, Rayner NW, Ntalla I, Kundu K, Walter K, Danesh J, Butterworth A, Barroso I, Tsafantakis E, Dedoussis G, Moltke I, Zeggini E

Cohort-wide deep whole genome sequencing and the allelic architecture of complex traits.

Zengini E, Hatzikotoulas K, Tachmazidou I, Steinberg J, Hartwig FP, Southam L, Hackinger S, Boer CG, Styrkarsdottir U, Suveges D, Kilian B, Gilly A, Ingvarsson T, Jonsson H, Babis GC, McCaskie A, Uitterlinden AG, van Meurs JBJ, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Davey Smith G, Wilkinson JM, Zeggini E.

Genome-wide analyses using UK wide Biobank data provides insights into the genetic architecture of osteoarthritis.