Tag

methodology

P is for Polygenic Risk Scores

By | A-Z

Nearly all human traits, such as height, weight, and intelligence, and common disorders like major depressive and anxiety disorders are polygenic. This means that variation in more than one gene (usually many genes) contributes to total genetic predisposition for a specific trait or disorder. Chris outlines how Polygenic Risk Scores…

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K is for Kinship

By | A-Z

This week in our A-Z post for ‘K’, Tom McAdams [EDIT Lab Associate Director] outlines Kinship, a core concept in the field of behavioural genetics.

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The largest genome-wide association study of depression was published last month. What did they find and what happens next?

By | Research Matters

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, contributing considerably to early mortality. Despite significant efforts, the genetics underlying depression has been difficult to identify and there has been limited progress in developing new treatments. Last month the largest genome-wide association study of depression was published in Nature Genetics (1)….

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H is for Heritability

By | A-Z

Heritability is the proportion of variation in a given population that is due to genetic differences. If a trait is highly heritable, it is more likely to be shared between individuals of close genetic relatedness, regardless of whether they share the same environment. This concept can be difficult to wrap…

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Measurement and the heritability gap for childhood behaviour problems

By | Research Matters

Decades of twin studies have shown that childhood behaviour problems including anxiety, depression, conduct and hyperactivity are substantially heritable. However, our recent research found that individual differences in behaviour problems are not significantly influenced by the common DNA differences that we directly measure. This finding held across diverse domains of…

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