Winston Hide, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Director, Precision RNA Medicine Core, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center


Win Hide applies systems biology approaches to genomic data to reveal and drug critical disease processes occurring in neurodegeneration. This makes it possible to build and implement systems that allow the discovery and prioritization of key target genes and processes involved in complex diseases like Alzheimer’s. He has been funded by key industry partners, including Biogen Inc., to develop translational pipelines for target prioritization. His bibliography details his research.

His work with CureAlz explores the controlling molecules (miRNAs) and genome variation in Alzheimer’s subjects to try and discover early biomarkers that can be detected in the blood, and upstream regulators of the initiation of Aleheimer’s. Using these, Hide is now developing ways in which we can enhance the body’s natural resilience against neurodegeneration – protecting before we need to treat.

Past activities

Win moved to Boston in 2019 from the UK, where he was professor and chair of computational biology at the Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience and Department of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield. Before going to the UK, he was an associate professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He has been visiting faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and  was the founding director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute Center for Stem Cell Bioinformatics.

Training

Win received a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Wales, Cardiff, and a doctorate degree in molecular genetics from Temple University, Philadelphia. He performed post­doctoral training at the University of Texas, Houston, at the Baylor College of Medicine and at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History. He gained industry experience in Silicon Valley at the MasPar Computer Corporation while serving as director of genomics.

Early work in South Africa

Win Hide founded the South African National Bioinformatics Institute, where he co­authored the South African Government Biotechnology Strategy. He won the Oppenheimer Foundation Distinguished Sabbatical Research Fellowship in 2007 and received the Oppenheimer medal.

Recognition

Win Hide was elected into the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2007 and recognized as a Legend of South African Science in 2017. He was the first recipient of the “International Society for Computational Biology Award for Outstanding Achievement,” given in recognition for work on the development of computational biology and bioinformatics in Africa.

Some details of Win Hides’ background

 

 

 

 

 

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Hahn, G., Prokopenko, D., Hecker, J., Lutz, S. M., Mullin, K., Sejour, L., Hide, W., Vlachos, I., DeSantis, S., Tanzi, R. E., & Lange, C. Prediction of disease-free survival for precision medicine using cooperative learning on multi-omic data, Briefings in Bioinformatics, June 5, 2024, Read More

Naderi Yeganeh, P., Teo, Y. Y., Karagkouni, D., Pita-Juárez, Y., Morgan, S. L., Slack, F. J., Vlachos, I. S., & Hide, W. A. PanomiR: a systems biology framework for analysis of multi-pathway targeting by miRNAs, Briefings in Bioinformatics, November 20, 2023, Read More

Joachim, R. B., Altschuler, G. M., Hutchinson, J. N., Wong, H. R., Hide, W. A., & Kobzik, L. The relative resistance of children to sepsis mortality: from pathways to drug candidates, Molecular Systems Biology, May 1, 2018, Read More

Morgan, S. L., Naderi, P., Koler, K., Pita-Juarez, Y., Prokopenko, D., Vlachos, I. S., Tanzi, R. E., Bertram, L., & Hide, W. A. Most Pathways Can Be Related to the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, June 24, 2022, Read More

Prokopenko, D., Lee, S., Hecker, J., Mullin, K., Morgan, S., Katsumata, Y., Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Weiner, M. W., Fardo, D. W., Laird, N., Bertram, L., Hide, W., Lange, C., & Tanzi, R. E. Region-based analysis of rare genomic variants in whole-genome sequencing datasets reveal two novel Alzheimer’s disease-associated genes: DTNB and DLG2, Molecular Psychiatry, March 4, 2022, Read More

Prokopenko, D., Morgan, S. L., Mullin, K., Hofmann, O., Chapman, B., Kirchner, R., Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Amberkar, S., Wohlers, I., Lange, C., Hide, W., Bertram, L., & Tanzi, R. E. Whole-genome sequencing reveals new Alzheimer’s disease-associated rare variants in loci related to synaptic function and neuronal development, Alzheimer's & Dementia, April 2, 2021, Read More

Cuddy, L. K., Prokopenko, D., Cunningham, E. P., Brimberry, R., Song, P., Kirchner, R., Chapman, B. A., Hofmann, O., Hide, W., Procissi, D., Hanania, T., Leiser, S. C., Tanzi, R. E., & Vassar, R. Abeta-accelerated neurodegeneration caused by Alzheimer’s-associated ACE variant R1279Q is rescued by angiotensin system inhibition in mice, Science Translational Medicine, September 30, 2020, Read More

Prokopenko, D., Hecker, J., Kirchner, R., Chapman, B. A., Hoffman, O., Mullin, K., Hide, W., Bertram, L., Laird, N., DeMeo, D. L., Lange, C., & Tanzi, R. E. Identification of Novel Alzheimer’s Disease Loci Using Sex-Specific Family-Based Association Analysis of Whole-Genome Sequence Data, Scientific Reports, March 19, 2020, Read More

Li, A., Hooli, B., Mullin, K., Tate, R. E., Bubnys, A., Kirchner, R., Chapman, B., Hofmann, O., Hide, W., & Tanzi, R. E. Silencing of the Drosophila ortholog of SOX5 leads to abnormal neuronal development and behavioral impairment, Human Molecular Genetics, February 10, 2017, Read More