Welcome
We are a diverse team of scientists integrating genetics, human brain functional genomics, computational biology, and developmental neuroscience to identify the biological underpinnings of -- and novel therapeutic targets for -- neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Our current work focuses on translating the ever-expanding results from large-scale genome-wide association and sequencing studies (GWAS/WGS) of these disorders into tractable biological mechanisms and testable hypotheses. To accomplish this, we are currently working to:
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Identify the heritable genetic contributions to common neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric traits and disorders through population-level genetic and genomic profiling
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Elucidate the convergent mechanisms, core pathways, and biomarkers through which genetic variation confers risk/resilience for these disorders
- Characterize the brain-level cellular and molecular pathology of heritable neuropsychiatric disorders and connect with genetic risk mechanisms
- Translate biological and genetic insights towards the clinic, through personalized risk profiling, disease pathway-level predictions, and novel drug target identification
Lab Updates
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Our PsychENCODE papers are published!
Wen et al., "Cross-ancestry atlas of gene, isoform, and splicing regulation in the developing human brain", Science 24;384(6698):eadh0829, 2024.
Patowary*, Zhang*, Jops*, et al., "Developmental isoform diversity in the human neocortex informs neuropsychiatric risk mechanisms" Science 24;384(6698):eadh7688, 2024.
Yap et al., "Brain cell-type shifts in Alzheimer's disease, autism, and schizophrenia interrogated using methylomics and genetics" Science Advances 10(21):eadn7655, 2024.
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Our isoTWAS paper has been published in Nature Genetics!
"Isoform-level transcriptome-wide association uncovers genetic risk mechanisms for neuropsychiatric disorders in the human brain."