B3772 - Incorporating a developmental perspective into gene identification models for alcohol outcomes - 13/05/2021

B number: 
B3772
Principal applicant name: 
Jessica Salvatore | Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University (United States)
Co-applicants: 
Mr. Nathaniel Thomas
Title of project: 
Incorporating a developmental perspective into gene identification models for alcohol outcomes
Proposal summary: 

Studies that aim to identify genes associated with alcohol use outcomes in longitudinal datasets often average across timepoints or examine lifetime measures, constructing phenotypes that disregard developmental variability in genetic effects. Predictive models of genetic influences on alcohol use may be improved if they measure genetic effects that are unique to different developmental periods and, subsequently, leverage these unique effects for the prediction of alcohol use outcomes throughout the lifespan. The proposed research will implement novel methods to conduct a longitudinal gene-identification study of alcohol use and use the resulting genetic effects to predict alcohol use throughout the lifespan in an independent sample.

Impact of research: 
This project provides an analytic approach for developmentally-informed genetic prediction of alcohol use outcomes. These novel methods will advance the field of genetics beyond the study of aggregated longitudinal phenotypes and represents an important step towards the goal of advancing precision medicine strategies for alcohol use outcomes.
Date proposal received: 
Tuesday, 4 May, 2021
Date proposal approved: 
Thursday, 13 May, 2021
Keywords: 
Genetic epidemiology (including association studies and mendelian randomisation), Addiction - e.g. alcohol, illicit drugs, smoking, gambling, etc., GWAS, Development, Genetic epidemiology, Genome wide association study