LIFE Seminar Summer 2024
Genetics, Social Inequality, and Development
The seminar sessions usually take place on a Thursday. When in presence mode, from 10:00 am to 12:00 am, in the small conference room of the MPIB.
April 11, 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 (hybrid meeting), small conference room
Genetic myths of destiny and race
Laurel Raffington (MPIB) & Sam Trejo (Princeton University)
- Those readings are from a forthcoming book, please do not share!
- Chapter 2 (Genetic Determinism): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2ooyn5fpk8zeo6gm102cv/B_chapter2.pdf?rlkey=wmcz5lzj9b7qffn3oz69fyd6h&dl=0
- Chapter 3 (Genetic Racial Essentialism): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rul4gb9xpmo9cuhdtdbmk/C_chapter3.pdf?rlkey=c9itsdx8dt1mqgdemexxk04u8&dl=0
April 18, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, small conference room
Tracing origins of modern humans using extant and ancient genomes
Mateja Hajdinjak, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology
- Bergström, A., Stringer, C., Hajdinjak, M., Scerri, E. M. L. & Skoglund, P. (2021). Origins of modern human ancestry. Nature (London), 590(7845), 229–237. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5
- Hajdinjak, M., Mafessoni, F., Skov, L., Vernot, B., Hübner, A., Fu, Q., Essel, E., Nagel, S., Nickel, B., Richter, J., Moldovan, O. T., Constantin, S., Endarova, E., Zahariev, N., Spasov, R., Welker, F., Smith, G. M., Sinet‐Mathiot, V., Paskulin, L., . . . Pääbo, S. (2021). Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry. Nature, 592(7853), 253–257. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03335-3
- Zeberg, H., Jakobsson, M., & Pääbo, S. (2024). The genetic changes that shaped Neandertals, Denisovans, and modern humans. Cell, 187(5), 1047–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.029
April 25, 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 (online meeting)
GWASs and PGIs*: Foundations, Potential Utility, and Methodological Limitations.
*GWASs (genome-wide association studies) and PGIs (polygenic indexes, also called polygenic scores or PGSs)
Robel Alemu (University of California)
Required:
- Uffelmann, E., Huang, Q. Q., Munung, N. S., De Vries, J., Okada, Y., Martin, A. R., Martin, H. C., Lappalainen, T. & Posthuma, D. (2021). Genome-wide association studies. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-021-00056-9
- Choi, S. W., Mak, T. S. H. & O’Reilly, P. (2020). Tutorial: a guide to performing polygenic risk score analyses. Nature Protocols, 15(9), 2759–2772. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-020-0353-1
- Tam, V., Patel, N., Turcotte, M., Bossé, Y., Paré, G. & Meyre, D. (2019). Benefits and limitations of genome-wide association studies. Nature Reviews. Genetics, 20(8), 467–484. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-019-0127-1
- Ding, Y., Hou, K., Xu, Z., Pimplaskar, A., Petter, E., Boulier, K., Privé, F., Vilhjálmsson, B. J., Loohuis, L. O. & Paşaniuc, B. (2023). Polygenic scoring accuracy varies across the genetic ancestry continuum. Nature (London), 618(7966), 774–781. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06079-4
Optional:
- Abdellaoui, A., Yengo, L., Verweij, K. J. H., & Visscher, P. M. (2023). 15 years of GWAS discovery: Realizing the promise. American journal of human genetics, 110(2), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.12.011
- Lennon, N. J., Kottyan, L. C., Kachulis, C., Abul‐Husn, N. S., Arias, J., Belbin, G. M., Below, J. E., Berndt, S. I., Chung, W. K., Cimino, J. J., Clayton, E. W., Connolly, J. J., Crosslin, D. R., Dikilitas, O., Edwards, D. R. V., Feng, Q., Fisher, M., Freimuth, R. R., Ge, T., . . . Kenny, E. E. (2024). Selection, optimization and validation of ten chronic disease polygenic risk scores for clinical implementation in diverse US populations. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02796-z
May 2, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, small conference room
Family-based approaches to gene-environment interplay in life course depression
Ziada Ayorech (University of Oslo)
- Ayorech, Z., Cheesman, R., Eilertsen, E. M., Bjørndal, L. D., Røysamb, E., McAdams, T. A., Havdahl, A., & Ystrom, E. (2023). Maternal depression and the polygenic p factor: A family perspective on direct and indirect effects. Journal of affective disorders, 332, 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.03.043
- Ayorech, Z., Torvik, F.A., Cheesman, R. et al. The structure of psychiatric comorbidity without selection and assortative mating. Transl Psychiatry 14, 121 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-024-02768-4
- Cheesman, R., Ayorech, Z., Eilertsen, E. M., & Ystrom, E. (2023). Why we need families in genomic research on developmental psychopathology. JCPP advances, 3(1), e12138. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12138
May 16, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, small conference room
Parenting and the intergenerational transmission of (dis-)advantage
Jasmin Wertz (University of Edinburgh)
- Wertz, J., Moffitt, T. E., Arseneault, L., Barnes, J. C., Boivin, M., Corcoran, D. L., ... & Caspi, A. (2023). Genetic associations with parental investment from conception to wealth inheritance in six cohorts. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(8), 1388-1401.
- Wertz, J., Moffitt, T. E., Agnew‐Blais, J., Arseneault, L., Belsky, D. W., Corcoran, D. L., ... & Caspi, A. (2020). Using DNA from mothers and children to study parental investment in children’s educational attainment. Child development, 91(5), 1745-1761.
- Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., & Arseneault, L. (2009). The discordant MZ-twin method: One step closer to the holy grail of causality. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33(4), 376-382.
May 23, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, small conference room
Nature, nurture and nonshared environment in cognitive development
Robert Plomin (King’s College London)
- Plomin R. (2023). Celebrating a century of research in behavioral genetics. Behavior Genetics, 53(2), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-023-10132-3
- Plomin, R., & von Stumm, S. (2018). The new genetics of intelligence. Nature Reviews. Genetics, 19(3), 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg.2017.104
- Afterword to the paperback edition of: Plomin, R. (2018). Blueprint: How DNA makes us who we are. MIT Press.
- Plomin, R., & Kawakami, K. (2024). Nature, nurture and nonshared environment in cognitive development [Manuscript under review].
June 13, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, small conference room
Noncognitive skills in education: Investigating the interplay between genes, environments, and development
Margherita Malanchini (Queen Mary University of London)
- Abstract
- Malanchini, M., Rimfeld, K., Allegrini, A. G., Ritchie, S. J., & Plomin, R. (2020). Cognitive ability and education: How behavioural genetic research has advanced our knowledge and understanding of their association. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 111, 229–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.016
- Okbay, A., Wu, Y., Wang, N. et al. (2022). Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals. Nature Genetics, 54, 437–449. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01016-z
- Demange, P. A., Malanchini, M., Mallard, T. T. et al. (2021). Investigating the genetic architecture of noncognitive skills using GWAS-by-subtraction. Nature Genetics, 53, 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-00754-2
June 20, 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 (online meeting)
Empirical and conceptual issues in the genetics of cognitive aging and dementia
Elliot Tucker-Drob (University of Texas at Austin)
- La Fuente J, D., Grotzinger, A. D., Marioni, R. E., Nivard, M. G. & Tucker‐Drob, E. M. (2022). Integrated analysis of direct and proxy genome wide association studies highlights polygenicity of Alzheimer’s disease outside of the APOE region. PLOS Genetics, 18(6), e1010208. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010208
- Tucker-Drob E. M. (2019). Cognitive Aging and Dementia: A Life Span Perspective. Annual review of developmental psychology, 1, 177–196. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-085204
June 27, 2024, 15:00 – 17:00 (online meeting)
Genetics research ethics, outreach, communication, and education
Robbee Wedow (Purdue University)
- Dangerous work. (2013). Nature, 502(7469), 5–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/502005b
- Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2002). “Summary and Recommendations” Genetics and Human Behavior: The ethical context. xix–xxxiii.
- https://geneticsexbehavior.info, entire site, including video.
- Many Genes Influence Same-Sex Sexuality, Not a Single ‘Gay Gene’. (2019). New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/science/gay-gene-sex.html
- Phelps,S. and Wedow, R. (2019). What genetics is teaching us about sexuality. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/opinion/genetics-sexual-orientation-study.html
- Maxmen A. (2019). Controversial 'gay gene' app provokes fears of a genetic Wild West. Nature, 574(7780), 609–610. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03282-0
- Harmon Amy (2019). Can Biology Class Reduce Racism. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/us/race-biology-genetics.html
July 4, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, room 299
Genetic research on social science phenotypes: Risks, benefits, and interpretive challenges.
Kathryn Paige Harden (University of Texas at Austin)
- Madole, J. W., & Harden, K. P. (2022). Building causal knowledge in behavior genetics. The Behavioral and brain sciences, 46, e182. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22000681
July 10, 2024, Wednesday, 15:00 – 17:00 (online meeting)
Measuring ageing the longitudinal way: The Pace of Ageing in the Dunedin Study
Terrie Moffitt (Duke University)
July 18, 2024, 10:00 – 12:00, small conference room
Harnessing epigenetics to study the shared nature of development in childhood and biological aging in adulthood
Laurel Raffington, (MPIB)