B3398 - Predicting Childhood Language Disorder and Ability using Genome-Wide Polygenic Scores - 28/10/2019

B number: 
B3398
Principal applicant name: 
Umar Toseeb | University of York
Co-applicants: 
Dr Dianne Newbury, Dr Kathryn Asbury
Title of project: 
Predicting Childhood Language Disorder and Ability using Genome-Wide Polygenic Scores
Proposal summary: 

Language is vital for social-emotional development during childhood and it is unsurprising, therefore, that language disorder is associated with a number of mental difficulties including symptoms of depression and anxiety. There is sound evidence for the heritability of language traits in children, but little is known about the specific genetic variants that explain this heritability. Identifying such markers will enhance understanding of the aetiology of mental health difficulties in those with language disorder and could inform early interventions designed to prevent adverse outcomes and improve quality of life in the most vulnerable children. The proposed project will assess the extent to which a number of different genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) can predict language ability, including language disorder, in clinical and population-based samples.

Impact of research: 
Currently, it is difficult to identify children with language disorders until aged 4-5 years old because language is unpredictable before then. This is not ideal. We hope that the proposal will be a major step towards genetic screening for risk of language disorders, which may ultimately allow for interventions to be put in place much earlier than is currently possible.
Date proposal received: 
Thursday, 24 October, 2019
Date proposal approved: 
Monday, 28 October, 2019
Keywords: 
Genetic epidemiology (including association studies and mendelian randomisation), Speech/language problem, GWAS, Development, Genetics, Genomics, Genome wide association study, Speech and language