Research in CTGlab explores the genetic and environmental causes of individual differences in brain-related health and disease. We integrate knowledge from different fields (genetics, neuroscience, bioinformatics, biology, machine learning), use and develop analytical tools to analyze and understand genomic data for complex traits, and connect to neuroscience to prove causation in wet-lab experiments.
NWO Brain & Cognition has awarded CTGlab PhD students Anke Hammerschlag and Sabine Mous the first prize for best integrated project and the attractive joint presentation of their collaboration on “An Integrative Theory of the Genetically Mediated Neural Substrates of ADHD”.
CTGlab was setup in 2008 by Danielle Posthuma as a small research group within the CNCR at the VU and the Amsterdam University Medical Centre. Since 2014 CTGlab is a sub-department of the CNCR and Amsterdam-UMC. We participate in Amsterdam Neuroscience.
As per April 2024 Prof Dorret Boomsma joins the Complex Trait Genetics lab at the CNCR.
A collaboration between Marijn Schipper and Danielle Posthuma from CNCR-CTG and Camiel Mannens and Sten Linnarsson from the Karolinska Institute Sweden has led to the publication of the first map of chromatin accessibility and paired gene expression in the entire developing early embryonic human brain. The study is published May 1, 2024 in Nature.
Neuroscientist Elleke Tissink investigated which genetic factors can influence different characteristics of the brain. With this knowledge, we can better understand why our brains all differ subtly in structure and function. This also provides insight into brain diseases such as ADHD or bipolar disorder.
In the post-GWAS era the aim of genetic research has expanded to the identification of the actual genes underlying stable genetic contributions to various key traits of behavior, cognition and health. Identifying these genes is important as it may lead us to understand why some people are more prone to mental disorders and physical disease than others, and may help improve early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease.
Research in our lab explores the genetic and environmental causes of individual differences in human traits related to behavior, cognition and mental and physical health. We integrate knowledge from different fields (biology, genetics, neuroimaging, bioinformatics) and use and develop statistical tools to analyze and understand GWAS data for complex traits.
