Psychiatric and behavioural genetics

The most long-standing genetic method used in the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre is the twin design, used to infer genetic and environmental influences. More recently this has expanded to include children-of-twin designs and other intergenerational and family methods including the adoption design.

We also use contemporary genomic and statistical genetic methods, including genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identifying the inherited genetics component to mental health disorders. Finally, we are interested in mechanisms of genetic influences ranging from gene expression and DNA methylation to telomere length and mouse models.

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