Dorret Boomsma joins CTG-CNCR

As per April 2024 Prof Dorret Boomsma joins the Complex Trait Genetics lab at the CNCR.

A map of chromatin accessibility in the developing human brain

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 discovered new genes with widespread effect on brain

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.

PoC grant awarded to Sara L. Seoane and Ilan Libedinsky

PhD candidates Sara L. Seoane and Ilan Libedinsky, with supervisor Professor Martijn van den Heuvel, have been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant for €66.000 from Amsterdam Neuroscience for their innovative research on characterizing the evolution of brain aging and its potential link to brain disorders.

PoC grant awarded to Tanya Phung

Tanya Phung, a post-doctoral researcher working in the group of Professor Danielle Posthuma, has been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant for €55.000 from Amsterdam Neuroscience.

PoC grant awarded to Karen Laupman and Nathaniel Bell

PhD candidates Karen Laupman and Nathaniel Bell, with supervisors Associate Professor Vivi Heine and Professor Danielle Posthuma, have been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant for €55.000 from Amsterdam Neuroscience for their innovative research on repurposing drugs specifically for schizophrenia (SCZ).

Reward sensitivity plays a role in youth crime

Boys who associate with delinquent friends are more likely to display antisocial behavior. A new study by neuroscientists and behavior experts from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Amsterdam UMC, led by CNCR colleague Jorim Tielbeek (dept. of Complex Trait Genetics) shows that this association is stronger in boys with an increased sensitivity to reward.

Best Student Paper Award awarded to Ilan Libedinsky

The paper of CNCR researcher Ilan Libedinsky “Genetic timeline of human brain and cognitive traits” has been awarded the Best Student Paper Award at the 23rd annual conference of the International Society for Intelligence Research (ISIR), held in Berkeley, California, from July 27-29, 2023.

Novel insights in cellular mechanisms of 4H Leukodystrophy

Dr. Stephanie Dooves, Liza Kok and colleagues performed a study aiming to enhance our understanding of the disease mechanisms behind 4H leukodystrophy. This study, performed under the supervision of Dr. Vivi Heine and Prof. Nicole Wolf, provides the first insights into the cellular mechanisms underlying 4H leukodystrophy.

Exploring the genetic overlap among twelve psychiatric disorders

In a study published in Nature Genetics, Cato Romero, Mats Nagel, and Sophie van der Sluis teamed up with colleagues from the Complex Trait Genetics department and the Million Veteran Program to scrutinize the genetic similarity of twelve psychiatric disorders. Besides identifying shared genes and biological substrates between pairs of disorders, they also elucidated the challenges jeopardizing the future success of cross-trait genetic research.

Three CNCR TenureTrackers rewarded permanent employment contract

The performance of CNCR researchers Rachel Brouwer, Loek van der Kallen and Mahesh Karnani has been evaluated positively and we are happy to announce that they are rewarded a permanent employment contract.

Genetic variants influencing longitudinal brain changes

Rachel Brouwer (assistant professor CNCR - CTG) recently published her work in Nature Neuroscience. The study is a large-scale collaboration of research groups worldwide and identifies genetic variants that are associated with the speed of structural brain changes over time.

Novel Genetic Risk Factors Detected for Alzheimer’s disease

Douglas Wightman (PhD student CNCR-CTG) publishes his first results in Nature Genetics. The large scale genetic study resulted in the discovery of novel genes and biological mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease.

Danielle Posthuma wins prestigious 2021 Mensa Foundation prize

Prof. dr. Danielle Posthuma has been awarded the 2021 Mensa Foundation Prize for her research directly identifying, for the first time, hundreds of human genes highly correlated to variations in intelligence.

Dr. Vivi Heine awarded Open Competition ENW-M grant (700kEuro)

Dr. Vivi Heine has been awarded the Open Competition ENW-M grant (700kEuro) for the development of 3D cell-instructive engineered stem cell models of human brain networks.

Stephanie Dooves awarded a grant from the TSC fonds

With the €30.000 grant Stephanie Dooves will use patient-derived stem cell models to study Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) disease mechanisms in the project “Targeting astrocytes to improve neuronal functioning in TSC”.

Martijn van den Heuvel awarded ERC Consolidator Grant

Computational neuroscientist Martijn van den Heuvel has been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Over the next five years he will study connections in the brain and the role they play in how the brain functions.

Jeanne Savage has been awarded a Veni grant

The Veni grant is worth up to 250,000 euros and this year 161 highly promising young scientists received this grant by NWO. The grant provides the laureates with the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas during a period of three years. The study of Jeanne Savage concerns ‘Exploring the heterogeneous genetic origins of alcohol misuse’.

Uffelmann and Posthuma review moving from GWAS to neurobiology

The invited review includes a detailed overview of tools and resources that aid in interpreting GWAS results and is published in Biological Psychiatry.

PI Vivi Heine receives a grant EU Joint Program on Rare Diseases

More than 1.2 million euros for stem cell research into neuronal abnormalities in white matter disorders

PI Martijn van den Heuvel appointed Full Professor

Martijn van den Heuvel is one of three excellent researchers appointed full professor within the 2019 VU University Research Chair (URC) program

PI Tinca Polderman receives large grant from NWO

Netherlands Autism Register (NAR) of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam obtains grant of 1,5 million euro to extend and enrich the NAR with genetic data, online neuropsychological tests, and online interventions

CNCR PI’s receive major grant for translational neurogenetics

The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science awards 19.6 million€ Gravitation grant to BRAINSCAPES consortium led by CNCR

Huge genetic study on pleiotropy and genetics of complex traits

PhD student Kyoko Watanabe (CNCR-CTG) curated 4155 GWAS results and analyzed558 traits to explore fundamental genetic questions. The study is published in Nature Genetics.

Novel method for integrating scRNA seq with GWAS results

PhD student Kyoko Watanabe (CNCR-CTG) publishes a novel way of using single cell gene expression data to prioritize cell types in disease. Her paper features as Editor’s highlight in Nature Communications

Opinion piece by van den Heuvel in Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Towards Cross-Disorder Connectomics

ERC Advanced grant awarded to Danielle Posthuma

2.5M Euro from the EU Horizon 2020 program to bridge Genetics and Neuroscience

Human brain evolution favored connections that boost information

A new study of Dirk Jan Ardesch and colleagues comparing the human and chimpanzee brain provides new insight on human brain specializations, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Novel genes and cell types detected for insomnia

In massive GWAS study, PhD student Philip Jansen provides new insight into the genetics of insomnia, published in Nature Genetics

Novel genetic risk factors discovered for Alzheimer’s disease

Postdocs Iris Jansen, Jeanne Savage and others from CNCR-CTG find novel genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s dementia, published in Nature Genetics

Novel method for conditional and interaction gene-set analysis

PhD student Christiaan de Leeuw (CNCR-CTG) has developed an important new tool for advanced gene-set analyses, published in Nature Communications this week

New genes and cell types found for intelligence and neuroticism

An international research team led by Professor Danielle Posthuma (VU / VUmc) has identified the genes, brain areas and cell types that are important in intelligence and neuroticism. Both studies were published June 25, 2018 in Nature Genetics.

Functional consequences of genes for intelligence

A joint effort between the groups of Gerome Breen of the Institute of Psychiatry, London and Danielle Posthuma of the CNCR-CTG, highlights functional consequences of genes associated with intelligence, published March 8, in Molecular Psychiatry.

Martijn van den Heuvel and team join CNCR!

As of March 1, 2018 Martijn van den Heuvel has started as a new PI at the Department of Complex Trait Genetics of the CNCR.

Large GWAS study reveals genetic heterogeneity in neuroticism

PhD student Mats Nagel from CTGlab publishes in Nature Communications

Watch Danielle Posthuma’s talk at the Allen Brain Institute

The Paul G. Allen Frontiers group symposium “What makes us human?”.

FUMA: a novel tool for functional annotation of GWAS

PhD student Kyoko Watanabe from CTGlab publishes in Nature Communications

Incidental Findings in MRI scans of children

Epigenome-wide association study of educational attainment

PhD student Richard Karlsson Linnér from CTGlab publishes in Molecular Psychiatry

Awards for CTGlab members

Philip Jansen, Kyoko Watanabe and Danielle Posthuma from CNCR/CTGlab all received awards this week!

GWAS for antisocial behavior

PhD student Jorim Tielbeek from CTGlab and VUMC publishes in JAMA Psychiatry

Rare Copy Number Variants found for Tourette Syndrome

An international team of researchers, including Danielle Posthuma of the VU & VUMC Amsterdam, identified Rare Copy Number Variants in NRXN1 and CNTN6 that increase the risk for Tourette Syndrome. The findings were published in Neuron, June 21.

PhD student Anke Hammerschlag finds genes for insomnia

An international team of researchers has found, for the first time, seven risk genes for insomnia. With this finding the researchers have taken an important step towards the unravelling of the biological mechanisms that cause insomnia. In addition, the finding proves that insomnia is not, as is often claimed, a purely psychological condition. Today, Nature Genetics publishes the results of this research.

Scientists find new genetic roots for intelligence

An international research team led by Prof Danielle Posthuma from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has made a major advance in understanding the genetic underpinnings of intelligence. Using a large dataset of more than 78,000 individuals with information on DNA genotypes and intelligence scores, the team discovered novel genes and biological routes for intelligence.

Genetic links for clinical subtypes of frontotemporal dementia.

Aniket Mishra and Danielle Posthuma (CNCR-CTG), in collaboration with Yolande Pijnenburg (VUMC) and the international FTD Genomics consortium, report novel genetic links for clinical subtypes of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), published in Brain this month.

Tinca Polderman on the overlap between ADHD & autism

17 December 2016: Tinca Polderman’s expert opinion about the overlap between ADHD and autism in the Dutch ‘Volkskrant’, and about parental influences on children’s behavior (not much!) in the German ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’.

Jorim Tielbeek & Tinca Polderman in Neurosc. & Biobehav.

Jorim Tielbeek, Tinca Polderman and co-authors publish a review on the development of aggressive behavior in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews:

Expert commentary in Nature Neuroscience

Commentary on translating genome-wide association findings into new therapeutics for psychiatry, in this months Nature Neuroscience issue by Danielle Posthuma et al.

European Leukodystrophy Association (ELA) awarded Vivi Heine

European Leukodystrophy Association (ELA) awarded Vivi Heine to study if modulation of Hyaluronan in the host brain microenvironment of a mouse model for Vanishing White Matter Disease (VWM) can improve stem cell therapy.

Watch Danielle Posthuma’s talk on advances on the genetics of IQ

At the Universidad Complutense de Madrid