Translational Technologies Core

Dr. Joel Gelernter

The goal of the Translational Technologies Core is to support the genetic components of each of the projects participating in this Center to help understand the nature of genetic influences on the phenotypes measured, and to allow for the ascertainment of genetic covariates that might affect those outcomes. We encourage that all subjects be asked to provide a DNA sample. Information on family history and other characteristics will be collected in the Clinical Core to provide the basis for analyses with DNA information.

Specific candidate genes have been identified as potentially important for each of the component projects in the center. We have the goal of sampling DNA from 100% of study subjects. The major function of the Genetics Core is to support genotyping for each of the projects (including pilot projects), for the purpose of identifying genotype/phenotype correlations.

• Genetics of substance use disorders in the era of big data
• Genome-wide meta-analysis of problematic alcohol use in 435,563 individuals yields insights into biology and relationships with other traits
• Genome-wide association study of cognitive flexibility assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
• Local adaptation in European populations affected the genetics of psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits
• Ancestry-specific and sex-specific risk alleles identified in a genome-wide gene-by-alcohol dependence interaction study of risky sexual behaviors
• ADH1B: From alcoholism, natural selection, and cancer to the human phenome
• Polygenic risk for alcohol dependence associates with alcohol consumption, cognitive function and social deprivation in a population-based cohort
• Differentially co-expressed genes in postmortem prefrontal cortex of individuals with alcohol use disorders: influence on alcohol metabolism-related pathways
• Exploring the genetic architecture of alcohol dependence in African-Americans via analysis of a genomewide set of common variants
• ALDH2 is associated to alcohol dependence and is the major genetic determinant of "daily maximum drinks" in a GWAS study of an isolated rural Chinese sample
• Strong protective effect of the aldehyde dehydrogenase gene (ALDH2) 504lys (*2) allele against alcoholism and alcohol-induced medical diseases in Asians
• Strong association of the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B gene (ADH1B) with alcohol dependence and alcohol-induced medical diseases