Professor Daniel Wilson

He is the lead tutor on Data Science: Introduction, the core module for the specialism in Data Science within the University of Oxford’s Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education. He has oversight of Oxford Lifelong Learning courses in Data Science, Computing and Mathematics as Director of Studies, and he contributes to the Department’s strategic direction across STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Joint Programmes as Academic Director. 

His research interests are in the genetic risk of infectious disease and the evolution of pathogen populations, which he studies through comparative genome analysis. His research activity focuses on the analysis of bacterial diseases and populations, but he also works on viruses and non-pathogenic microorganisms.  

Motivating themes in his work are understanding the inheritance of virulence and susceptibility and the effects of transmission, natural selection and recombination in shaping pathogen diversity. He has investigated the evolution of pathogen populations from the colonization of individual hosts and transmission between hosts, through to the whole-species and phylogenetics levels. 

Daniel would welcome enquiries from graduate students keen on working in any of these areas, particularly as part of the part-time DPhil programmes offered by Oxford Lifelong Learning. 

ORCID: 0000-0002-0940-3311.

ResearcherID: C-1463-2019.

Google Scholar profile: 0FD9NekAAAAJ.

• Identifying direct risk factors in UK Biobank via simultaneous Bayesian-frequentist model-averaged hypothesis testing using Doublethink
  Arning, N., Fryer, H. R. and D. J. Wilson (2026)
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 123: e2514138122 (abstract preprint pdf) 
• Doublethink: simultaneous Bayesian-frequentist model-averaged hypothesis testing
  Fryer, H. R., Arning, N. and D. J. Wilson (2025)
  arXiv doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2312.17566 (abstract preprint) 
• Assessing the value of linking public health microbiology data to the UK Biobank
  Lin, S.-K., Armstrong, J., Chong, A. Y., Butler-Laporte, G., Allen, N. E., Mentzer, A. J., Wyllie, D. H. and D. J. Wilson (2025)
  medRxiv doi: 10.1101/2025.07.01.25330627 (abstract preprint) 
• Machine learning and statistical inference in microbial population genomics
  Sheppard, S. K., Arning, N., Eyre, D. W. and D. J. Wilson (2025)
  Genome Biology 26: 313 (abstract pdf) 
• A second update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19
  COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (2023)
  Nature 621:E7-E26 (abstract pdf) 
• Genome-wide association studies of global Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance to 13 antimicrobials in 10,228 genomes identify new resistance mechanisms
  The CRyPTIC Consortium (2022)
  PLOS Biology 20: e3001755 (abstract pdf preprint) 
• A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19
  COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (2022)
  Nature 608:E1-E10 (abstract pdf) 
• Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19
  The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (2021)
  Nature doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03767-x (abstract pdf) 
• Genome-wide association studies reveal the role of polymorphisms affecting factor H binding protein expression in host invasion by Neisseria meningitidis
  Earle, S. G., Lobanovska, M., Lavender, H., Tang, C., Exley, R. M., Ramos-Sevillano, E., Browning, D., Kostiou, V., Harrison, O. B., Bratcher, H. B., Varani, G., Tang, C. M., Wilson, D. J. and M. C. J. Maiden (2021)
  PLOS Pathogens 17: e1009992 (abstract preprint pdf) 
• Machine learning to predict the source of campylobacteriosis using whole genome data
  Arning, N., Sheppard, S., Bayliss, S., Clifton, D. A. and D. J. Wilson (2021)
  PLOS Genetics 17: e1009436 (abstract preprint pdf) 
• Antimicrobial resistance determinants are associated with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and adaptation to the hospital environment: a bacterial genome-wide association study
  Young, B. C., Wu, C.-H., Charlesworth, J., Earle, S., Price, J. R., Gordon, N. C., Cole, K., Dunn, L., Liu, E., Oakley, S., Godwin, H., Fung, R., Miller, R., Knox, K., Votintseva, A., Quan, T. P., Tilley, R., Scarborough, M., Crook, D. W., Peto, T. E., Walker, A. S., Llewelyn, M. J. and D. J. Wilson (2021)
  Microbial Genomics doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.000700 (abstract preprint pdf) 
• Dynamic linkage of COVID-19 test results between Public Health England’s Second Generation Surveillance System and UK Biobank
  Armstrong, J., Rudkin, J. K., Allen, N., Crook, D. W., Wilson, D. J., Wyllie, D. H. and A. M. O’Connell (2020)
  Microbial Genomics doi:10.1099/mgen.0.000397 (abstract preprint pdf) 
• Genomewide Association Study of Severe Covid-19 with Respiratory Failure
  The Severe Covid-19 GWAS Group [includes COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative consortium authorship] (2020)
  New England Journal of Medicine 383: 1522-1534 (abstract pdf) 
• Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in Covid-19
  Pairo-Castineira, E., Clohisey, S., Klaric, L., Bretherick, A. D., Rawlik, K., and colleagues [includes COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative consortium authorship] (2020)
  Nature doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03065-y (abstrac pdf) 
• Panton-Valentine leukocidin is the key determinant of Staphylococcus aureus pyomyositis in a bacterial genome-wide association study.
  Young, B. C., Earle, S. G., Soeng, S., Sar, P., Kumar, V., Hor, S., Sar, V., Bousfield, R., Sanderson, N. D., Barker, L., Stoesser, N., Emary, K. R. W., Parry, C. M., Nickerson, E. K., Turner, P., Bowden, R., Crook, D., Wyllie, D., Day, N. P. J., Wilson, D. J. and C. E. Moore (2019)
  eLife 8: e42486 (abstract preprint pdf) 

Read more about his publications and research activities on the group website: www.danielwilson.me.uk