Jorim Tielbeek and colleagues receive NWO Research Talent grant

04 June 2013

Jorim Tielbeek, Arne Popma (PI), Theo Doreleijers, Henning Tiemeier, Tinca Polderman and Danielle Posthuma received the prestigious NWO Research Talent grant. Their research proposal is entitled ‘From gene to mean. A neuroimaging genetics study on functional gene sets involved in endophenotypes of antisocial behaviour’.

This grant enables Jorim Tielbeek to perform PhD research at the VUMC Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/De Bascule in the coming three years. He will collaborate with the CNCR-Complex Trait Genetics group, the Erasmus MC Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia.

NWO Research Talent

Research Talent is a form of open competition funding, which offers talented and ambitious young researchers the platform to pursue a scientific career and high-quality PhD research. Proposals for Research Talent are submitted via full professors, associate professors or assistant professors within the social and behavioral sciences.

Summary of the proposal

Antisocial behavior poses a major burden for society. Revealing its causes may provide clues for treatment and prevention. However, antisocial behavior is phenotypically heterogeneous and of polygenic nature, both of which seriously hamper current etiological investigations.

The proposed research aims to tackle these two issues by using an innovative, integrated strategy incorporating genetics and imaging, and by capitalizing on the availability of large genetically informative datasets for antisocial behavior as well as a smaller but unique dataset of juvenile delinquents with imaging data.

We aim to identify biological pathways underlying antisocial behavior, which could inform and improve current treatment strategies.