News and forthcoming events. Jim at Stormont in February 2025Professor Jim Flett Wilson was at Stormont as part of the Haemochromatosis UK team who delivered their report highlighting the economic benefit of population-based screening for genetic haemochromatosis in Northern Ireland.#Haemochromatosis #IronOverload Viking Genes fundraisers kick-off 2025 in style!The new year kicked-off in style as Sharon Deyell's annual swapshop in Aith (Shetland) raised an incredible £6,500 to be split between Viking Genes and Clan Cancer Support. Raffle prizes included a sparkly jacket donated by ITV's Lorraine Kelly, and Gibbie o' Taft bear donated by Burra Bears. Sharon generously rounded-up Viking Genes share to a magnificent £3,500.A few days later, Shetland independent energy company Enquest donated £750 to the Viking Genes Fund. This money is made available from their Safe Day Scheme. Employees are asked for charity nominations to be considered for a donation. Viking Genes was nominated by Terminal Employee Mrs Helen Denoon. At the end of January, Professor Jim Flett Wilson travelled to Shetland for Up Helly Aa. This gave him the opportunity to meet with Viking Genes fundraisers. Whilst there, Jim was presented with a cheque for an incredible £5,000 by Elizabeth Nicolson of the Aith Charity Shop. These funds are vital to us continuing our work and we are very grateful for all these generous donations. #Fundraising #VikingGenes #VikingGenesFund Viking Genes awarded medical grant from Haemochromatosis UKWe are delighted to announce that the charity Haemochromatosis UK has awarded a “Furneau” Medical grant to Prof Jim Wilson. This small but important grant will allow Dr Shona Kerr to work with colleagues in Edinburgh and Dublin on a research project to investigate the frequency of genetic haemochromatosis within the Scottish island populations, using Viking Genes data, and also data from research volunteers across the rest of Britain and Ireland.The new project aims to provide scientific evidence of the priority target areas in which to begin implementation of the offer of population screening for the actionable risk genotype. There is considerable benefit in identifying the genetic risk for haemochromatosis, since the symptoms evolve over decades, and the opportunity to intervene and prevent disease is both simple and effective, primarily through regular blood donation.The Genetics of Haemochromatosis Viking Genes supporters raise over £20,000 for the Viking Genes Fund in November and December 2024November has seen incredible fundraising by Viking Genes volunteers and supporters from Shetland. The Leith lasses raised a magnificent £4,112.50 for Viking Genes at the Lerwick Legion Halloween fundraiser. They also raised the same amount for a breast cancer charity. Then the Viking Genes Fundraising Auction - Shetland raised an incredible £15,787 during their online auction on Facebook. Shetland band the 'Paves' raised £259.48 at their gig in Lerwick to add to the £442.17 raised at an earlier gig in Scalloway. Professor Jim Flett Wilson told the Shetland Times: "It shows an extraordinary level of engagement with [the community's] own health and future health in Shetland. I don't think there are many other places in the UK which would achieve this. I think it's something to be very proud of." Viking Genes Fundraising - Shetland In December, Orkney Tweedy Bears raised a terrific £435 (rounded-up to £500) in their raffle to win Magnus the Bear and Thor the Viking. These vital funds will help support the work of PhD student Ben Fletcher. Jim at Westminster in November 2024Professor Jim Flett Wilson met with Neil McClements of Haemochromatosis UK and MPs Alistair Carmichael and Torcuil Crichton, respectively, at Parliament, Westminster, to talk about his work and make the case for population screening. The talk to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) was met with a positive response. Jim at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) conference in Denver, Colorado in November 2024Professor Jim Flett Wilson was a guest speaker at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) conference in Denver, Colorado. He explained to the audience how Viking Genes identified 'actionable' genetic variants in volunteers and implemented return of results. It was met with lots of interest. The talk was entitled 'Identification of actionable genetic variants in 4,198 volunteers from the Viking Genes research cohort and implementation of return of results'. Famous charity SHOARD donates magnificent £10,000 to the Viking Genes FundA huge thank you to SHOARD, the famous charity shop on Whalsay, Shetland who donated £10,000 to the Viking Genes Fund!This generous donation will help to part pay for the first year of Ben Fletcher's PhD, which started in October 2024. Find out how you can support us too. Support Viking Genes Jim returns to Shetland to give sell out talk in September 2024Jim battled the elements to give a talk on Viking Genes on Tuesday 10 September at the Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick. Prof Jim Flett Wilson's talk was entitled 'Viking Genes: Genomic Medicine for the Northern Isles'.DNA is becoming increasingly important in healthcare. Prof Jim Flett Wilson of the University of Edinburgh came back to Shetland to explain the opportunities for prevention and early detection of disease for people of the Northern Isles, arising from results of the Viking Genes studies. Jim and Shona returned to the Orkney International Science Festival in 2024Jim and Shona gave talks on Viking Genes at the Orkney International Science Festival on Friday 6 September at the Phoenix Cinema, Pickaquoy, Kirkwall. Prof Jim Flett Wilson's talk was entitled 'Viking Genes: Genomic Medicine' and Dr Shona Kerr's 'Viking Genes: Getting Your Results Back'. DNA is becoming increasingly important in healthcare and Jim explained the opportunities for prevention and early detection of disease for Orcadians and Shetlanders, arising from results of the Viking Genes studies.Viking Genes is one of the first population research studies to give volunteers the option to have “actionable” genetic results returned to them. For this to happen, a range of ethical and practical issues had to be overcome, as Shona explained.The Orkney International Science Festival was founded by Howie Firth in 1991. That means it's been ongoing for more than 30 years, and is the second oldest in the world. Read more about our involvement here. Viking Genes at the Orkney International Science Festival This article was published on 2024-08-01
