POP-GEM
Population Genetics and Environment
in Mental Health
Congratulations Dana!
March 2024
Congratulations to Dana Lapato, PhD for winning the NINDS Rigor Champions Prize!
Paper Published!
January 2024
"Examining interactions between polygenic scores and interpersonal trauma exposure on alcohol consumption and use disorder in an ancestrally diverse college cohort", co-authored by Rowan O'Hara, Roseanne E. Peterson, PHD, Eva E. Lancaster, PHD, and Chris Chatzinakos, PHD, was published in Frontiers!
Lab Members Attend the 2023 ASHG!
November 2023
POP-GEM Lab members are at the 2023 American Society of Psychiatric Genetics in Washington, D.C. Check out the ASHG tab under "Presentations" to see what our lab members presented!
Lab Members Attend the 2023 WCPG!
October 2023
POP-GEM Lab members are at the 2023 World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG) in Montreal, Canada. This year's theme is “Putting People First in Psychiatric Genetics.” Check out the WCPG tab under "Presentations" to see what our lab members presented!
Welcome Kaila Boyer!
October 2023
Second-year medical student, Kaila Boyer, joins the lab as a Research Associate. She will be assisting with various projects in the POP-GEM lab and in the Institute for Genomics in Health at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University.
Welcome Evan Davis!
October 2023
Evan Davis, an MD/PhD student, joins the lab for a research rotation using All of Us data.
Welcome Huseyin Gedik!
September 2023
Huseyin Gedik, PhD, joins the lab as a postdoctural fellow. Huseyin will be mentored by Dr. Roseann Peterson.
Congratulations Onyinyechi!
August 2023
All of Us Intern, Onyinyechi Obidiro, presented her research project at the 15th Annual RTI Internship Showcase. "Factors Influencing Susceptibility to Triple Negative Breast Cancer"
Congratulations Rowan!
August 2023
Lab member, Rowan O'Hara, successfully defended her thesis on interpersonal trauma, sex, and polygenic risk on depression in college. She will now be headed to the University of Baltimore for their Epidemiology and Human Genetics PhD program. Congrats Rowan!!!
Congratulations Madhur!
June 2023
Lab member Madhur Singh won the Rising Star Award at the Behavioral Genetics Association conference in Murcia Spain for his presentation on Harnessing the Genetic Diversity in the UK Biobank to Enhance Genomic Discovery!
Conference Presentation by Postdoc Eva!
June 2023
Lab member Eva Lancaster, PhD, presented a lightning talk at the Behavioral Genetics Association Conference on "Psychological premenstrual symptoms and their polygenic interrelationship with psychiatric and reproductive-related outcomes."
Lab Members Attend BGA 2023!
June 2023
POP-GEM Lab members are at the Behavioral Genetics Association 2023 (BGA) in Mucia, Spain to participate in a symposium on "Genes in a global context: improved methods, greater representation, and new opportunities in psychiatric genetics."
Welcome Dr. Chatzinakos!
June 2023
Chris Chatzinakos, PhD, is an assistant professor at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University who will be joining the POP-GEM lab. Dr. Chatzinakos focuses on statistical/psychiatric genetics and novel methods to better understand high-dimensional and large-scale biological data including single-cell transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics.
Madhur Presented at NIDA!
May 2023
Lab member, Madhur Singh, presented on describing the use of Mendelian Randomization and twin data, this study finds stronger and more widespread causal effects of cigarette smoking on DNA methylation than vice versa at the 2023 National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Conference.
Eva Presented her Poster at NIDA!
May 2023
Lab member, Eva Lancaster, PhD, presented her poster on the association between IPV and higher alcohol consumption, highlighting that using environmental variables in genetic studies can provide a better understanding of alcohol outcomes at the 2023 National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Conference.
Amanda Presented her Poster at NIDA!
May 2023
Lab member, Amanda Gentry, PhD, describes the use of elastic nets to demonstrate how machine learning and blood-based biomarkers may be useful to predict alcohol consumption and other complex outcomes
Rowan Presented at VCU's Women's Health Research Day!
May 2023
Lab member, Rowan O'Hara, presented her poster on the "Examination of sex differences in the association of interpersonal violence and symptoms of depression and alcohol use disorder among college students" at the 2023 Women's Health Research Day at VCU!
Dr. Peterson Presents at the PGC World Wide Lab
May 2023
Lab director, Roseann Peterson, PhD, presented as part of the PsychMERGE Network at the 2023 Psychiatric Genetics Consortium on "Performance differences in electronic health record algorithm for bipolar disorder by race and ethnicity: An assessment from the PsychMERGE Diversity Initiative.
Dr. Peterson Gives Keynote at The Research Ethics to Advance Health Equity Symposium!
May 2023
Lab director, Roseann Peterson, PhD, gave the keynote “Missing Diversity in Human Genetics Studies Limits Precision Medicine” at The Research Ethics to Advance Health Equity Symposium at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. Watch the speech here.
Welcome Onyinyechi Obidiro!
May 2023
Onyinyechi Obidiro, a pharmaceutical studies Ph.D. student from Howard University, joins the lab for a summer 'All of US' internship.
Welcome Molly Leitner!
May 2023
SUNY Downstate Neural and Behavioral Science Ph.D. student, Molly Leitner joins the lab for a research rotation on data science and statistical genetics.
Welcome Jasmine Cárcamo!
April 2023
Jasmine Cárcamo, MA, joins the lab and the Institute for Genomics in Health at SUNY Downstate as a Project Manager.
Society of Biological Psychiatry Poster
April 2023
Lab Director, Roseann E. Peterson, PhD, presents her poster on “Performance differences in an electronic health record algorithm for bipolar disorder by race and ethnicity: An assessment from the PsycheMERGE Diversity Initiative” at the 2023 Society of Biological Psychiatry Annual Meeting (SOBP).
Welcome Asma Sadia!
March 2023
First-year medical student, Asma Sadia joins the lab as a Research Associate. She aims to help translate research findings and build awareness surrounding the genetic and environmental variables contributing to mental health outcomes.
Welcome Cierra Machado!
February 2023
Public Health Master’s student Cierra Machado joins the lab as a Research Associate. She will be assisting with various projects in the POP-GEM lab and in the Institute of Genomic Health at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University.
Welcome Zoe Neale!
February 2023
Zoe Neale, PhD, joins the Institute of Genomic Health at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry.
Congratulations Dana Lapato!
February 2023
Dana Lapato, PhD, joins the lab as a faculty affiliate and was awarded a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dana will be mentored by Drs. Ken Kendler, Roseann Peterson, and Tim Bigdeli.