Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)

Our fourth group is the ✨Multi-level Quantitative Trait Loci✨group!

🧬AKA themQTL group🧬

🔎QTL analysis is a way to understand how genetic sequences🧬affect gene expression...

🧐Think RNA transcripts and proteins!

All these methods to understand genetics🤩

Next up is the awesome✨Methylation-wide association studies✨group!

AKA the MWAS group😉

#Epigenetics are changes that happen to DNA expression🧬without actually changing the sequence!

Instead, these changes happen to molecules that are attached to the DNA - how cool 🤯!

The second of our 5 project groups we are thrilled to introduce is the✨Isoforms✨group!

Isoforms are different versions of RNA transcripts or proteins🧬

They are a result of splicing✂️during gene expression and are an important part of how one gene can act in different ways!

The @fg-pgc.bsky.social is all about understanding how our genetic findings🔬translate into psychiatric conditions 🧠

We have 5 project groups, and we are excited to introduce the✨Functional Validation✨group first!

We asked them for a status update and a highlight of the year...

Ultimately, we:

🌟drive inclusive and diverse 'omics' mental health research,

🌟and foster a collective effort that transcends individual capabilities for global science🌎!

🧵3/3

We have two awesome chairs ✨@hjerling-leffler.bsky.social and @maryellenlynall.bsky.social✨, who started the group in February 2024!

We also have 5 project groups, 🔬exploring different ways of understanding #FunctionalGenomics in psychiatric disorders🧠

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So, who are the the Functional Genomics Working Group?

🎯Our goal is to understand how genes🧬, cells🦠and molecules💠contribute to psychiatric disorders🧠

We work with other PGC groups and different 'omics data (methylation, cytometry, single cell etc.) to do this🧪

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Before we get started, let’s introduce our two Social Media Reps - @natashaberthold.bsky.social and @evacschulte.bsky.social!

We're here for the #functionalgenomics🧬, and #Science #Communication📡is a🔑key part!

💫Check out their profiles💫

✨Welcome to the Functional Genomics Takeover of the PGC main account!✨

For the next 2 weeks @natashaberthold.bsky.social and @evacschulte.bsky.social will be taking you through the achievements and highlights of year 2 in the @fg-pgc.bsky.social.

So sit forward, get excited, and celebrate with us!

Congratulations to Dr. Wouter Peyrot, recipient of the 2025 Pamela Sklar Award at #WCPG2025! His innovative work continues to advance the field of psychiatric genomics. 🧬👏

Genome-wide association studies identify 77 loci for suicidality and provide novel biological insights Suicidality is heritable and a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, yet its biological etiology remains largely elusive. We conducted multi-ancestry genome-wide association study meta-anal...

🚨New preprint from PGC SUI!! @pgcgenetics.bsky.social

GWAS meta-analyses of suicidal ideation, attempt, death, and behavior across >50 cohorts identify 77 loci (59 novel), implicate subcortical brain regions, and show suicidality phenotypes are genetically distinct.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Some recent work led by @peterjonghona.bsky.social and myself at @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social looks at environmental, psychiatric, and genetic predictors of alcohol use disorder.

Online today at The American Journal of Psychiatry (@apapsychiatric.bsky.social):

psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...

Genetic and Phenotypic Features of Schizophrenia in the UK Biobank This cross-sectional study compares genetic liability to psychiatric disorders in individuals with schizophrenia in the UK Biobank with individuals in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and compares ...

People with schizophrenia are underrepresented in volunteer-based biobanks. A new UK Biobank study shows that those who do participate tend to have milder symptoms, lower polygenic risk scores, lower rates of copy-number variants, and higher levels of education and employment.

Biological Insights from Schizophrenia-associated Loci in Ancestral Populations - PubMed Large-scale genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia have uncovered hundreds of associated loci but with extremely limited representation of African diaspora populations. We surveyed electroni...

A new preprint reports the largest genetic study of schizophrenia in people of African ancestry, identifying 3 genetic signals unique to this group using data from the Million Veteran Program (MVP) and the All of Us Research Program: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39252912/

Schizophrenia is often misunderstood and highly complex. Learn about its prevalence and health impact in the WHO Fact Sheet 💡:
www.who.int/news-room/fa...

4/ Want to help advance schizophrenia research? 🔬You can contribute by sharing data to the newest meta-analysis via our Data Receiving Committee!
pgc.unc.edu/about-us/joi...

3/ The study identified 287 regions in the genome associated with schizophrenia, and follow-up analyses highlighted 120 likely involved genes.

Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia - Nature A genome-wide association study including over 76,000 individuals with schizophrenia and over 243,000 control individuals identifies common variant associations at 287 genomic loci, and further fine-m...

2/ In 2022, we published our largest study yet, a global effort that analyzed DNA from 76,755 individuals affected by schizophrenia. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/ 🧵 For 10+ years, the Schizophrenia Working Group of the PGC has been dedicated to understanding the genetic risk factors for schizophrenia.

Hi from the PGC Schizophrenia working group! During the next 2 weeks, we will be posting about schizophrenia genetics and related topics. Stay tuned!

Today is #WorldSuicidePreventionDay.

Worried someone might be struggling with suicidal thoughts?

Your presence can be powerful. A simple check-in could be the lifeline they need. 💙

Learn more about #SuicidePrevention 👉 bit.ly/4phPYKi

Latin America has experienced an increase in suicide rate, contrasting with a global decline. We review possible reasons for this here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Led by Dr. Brenda Cabrera-Mendoza and @renatopolimanti.bsky.social, 1st publication from the LAGC Suicide Working Group.

On 10 September, the world comes together for #WorldSuicidePreventionDay under the theme, Changing the Narrative on Suicide. This year, we’re making resources more accessible than ever - translated into more languages, to reach more communities worldwide. bit.ly/469incZ

Brenda Cabrera-Mendoza, postdoctoral associate at Yale Psychiatry, has been awarded a MQ US Fellow grant from MQ Mental Health Research. Her project will integrate genetic and clinical data to improve suicide risk stratification.

Over the next couple of tweets, we will highlight some of the funded research projects in the PGC SUI Workgroup, which are working toward understanding the genetics of suicide. #PGCSUI #suicidegenetics

This fall members of the PGC Suicide Workgroup will be presenting at the upcoming IASR/AFSP International Summit on Suicide Research and the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics. We look forward to sharing our latest findings with the scientific community.
#WCPG2025 #IASR2025

📢 For the next two weeks, the Suicide Working Group is taking over this space.
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month — a time to break stigma, share resources, and highlight research and action that can save lives.
#SuicidePrevention #SuicideAwarenessMonth

Excited to share that our manuscript describing a multi-ancestry GWAS of nicotine dependence has now been published: doi.org/10.1017/S003...

"A contextual genomic perspective on physical activity and its relationship to health, well being and illness" led by Marco Galimberti at @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social and US Dept. of Veterans Affairs is now online at Nature Genetics (@natureportfolio.nature.com)

Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...