Peter Visscher FRS is professor of Quantitative Genetics at the University of Oxford (UK) and the University of Queensland (Australia). Visscher has held positions at the Universities of Edinburgh, Queensland and Oxford, and Honorary or Affiliate positions at UMCG Groningen and the Karolinska Institute. Visscher is known for his research investigating the genetic basis of complex human traits, including common diseases. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of human trait variation. Visscher developed and applied statistical analysis methods to quantify and dissect the contribution of DNA polymorphisms to trait variation. He was one of the first to propose, advocate and show that genome and trait data can be used to predict individuals who are genetically at high risk of disease.

Height as a model trait in human complex trait genetics

Height is an easy-to-measure complex trait which has been a model phenotype in human genetics since the late 1800s. It has been used to study the relative contribution of nature and nurture to trait variation, the consequences of assortative mating, inbreeding and natural selection and, more recently, genetic architecture. I will show that different experimental designs are converging on the same inference about genetic variation and that polygenic scores are achieving ever-increasing prediction accuracy.