Biography
Bjarke Feenstra is a senior scientist and research group leader at Statens Serum Institut and Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet. He has an academic background in biology and statistics, a PhD in statistical genetics, and international experience from USA and Iceland. Dr. Feenstra and his team pursue research questions in genetic epidemiology, primarily with a focus on pregnancy and childhood traits and diseases. Examples of the team's research include genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of pregnancy outcomes such as gestational duration, preterm birth and birth weight, and of childhood diseases such as febrile seizures and pyloric stenosis. Other of the group's studies integrate genetics, transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses to gain deeper mechanistic understanding of disease etiology. The combination of Danish health registers, large cohorts with genetic data, and sample collections in biobanks provide unique opportunities for genetic epidemiology research.