CAPICE (Childhood and Adolescence Psychopathology: unravelling the complex etiology by a large Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Europe), is a project funded by the European Commission under the HORIZON 2020 Research and Innovation programme, Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions – MSCA-ITN-2016 – Innovative Training Networks.
In the Roadmap for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research in Europe (ROAMER), top-priority is research into child and adolescent mental health symptoms. CAPICE will address this priority.
This network will elaborate on the EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortium, a well-established collaboration of the many European birth and adolescent population based (twin and family) cohorts with unique longitudinal information on lifestyle, family environment, health, and emotional and behavioral problems.
Phenotypic and genome-wide genotypic data are available for over 60,000 children, in addition to genome-wide genotypes for over 20,000 mothers and epigenome-wide data for over 6,000 children. Combined with the enormous progress in methodology, the results of the research performed in this network will greatly expand our knowledge regarding the etiology of mental health symptoms in children and adolescents and shed light on possible targets for prevention and intervention, e.g. by drug target validation. Moreover, it will provide Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) with an excellent training in the psychiatric genomics field given by a multidisciplinary team of eminent scientists from the academic and non-academic sector highly experienced in e.g., gene-environment interaction and covariation analyses, (epi)genome-wide association studies, Mendelian Randomization (MR) and polygenic analyses.
With a focus on common and debilitating problems in childhood and adolescence, including depression, anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, CAPICE will contribute to improving later outcomes of young people in European countries with child and adolescent psychopathology.
Source : CAPICE website
Genetics and psychopathology – Articles
Risk factors for psychopathology – Nature or Nurture?
24 September 2019
I started studying clinical psychology with a vision to reduce the burden of mental ill-health. The most logical way to accomplish this was to investigate factors that may lead to the development of mental health problems as early in life as possible. Therefore, I began to investigate the effect of problematic parent-interactions on children’s mental health. I spent hours and hours observing video material of parents affected by depression interacting with their young children.
STUDY: METABOLOMIC NETWORKS ASSOCIATED WITH AUTISM AND SCHIZOPHRENIA
Mental ill-health and neurological conditions have touched nearly everyone on the planet. The reasons for mental disorders could be related to numerous genetic variants and metabolites affecting the brain. Advances in bioinformatics utilising a ‘big data’ and network analysis approach could provide opportunities for novel insights with respect to the causes of mental ill-health. In this context, bioinformatics and network analysis have been applied to study the metabolomics of young autistic children as well as different genotypes of schizophrenia susceptibility gene.
STUDY – INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS IN ADOLESCENCE ARE MODESTLY AFFECTED BY CHILDHOOD ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER SYMPTOMS
Internalizing disorders such as anxiety and depression are the most common mental disorders in young people, constituting an increasing burden. However, there is a paucity of studies that have examined differences in childhood and adolescent internalizing symptoms that additionally include a variety of NDD symptoms. The study therefore aimed to assess variance in parental reported internalizing symptoms at age 15 that can be explained by variance in parental reported anxiety, depression, and NDD symptoms at age 9 or 12. We used the nation-wide population-based Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden, comprising 4492 twins born in Sweden between 1998 and 2003 that were assessed at age 9 or 12, and then again at age 15.
The role of genes in the development of mental health problemsRisk factors for psychopathology – Nature or Nurture?
16 September 2019
It is highly probable that an individual living with a psychiatric disorder such as anxiety or depression has a family member that also has mental health problems. Similar to traits like height and eye color, psychiatric problems are also heritable. This is why health practitioners often ask for the family history of mental illness when making a diagnosis.
Research suggests that psychiatric disorders are strongly influenced by genetic factors. In the past, studies in twins were the most popular method of investigating the genetic basis of psychiatric traits.
MULTIVARIATE GENETIC ANALYSES OF COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY RELATED TRAITS: 4 STUDIES
Throughout my PhD work I employed different multivariate genetic and genomic approaches (i.e. simultaneous analysis of more than one outcome variable) applied to the prediction of cognitive related traits and to investigate the co-occurrence of various dimensions of child psychopathology dimensions across development.
In a first study I investigated the role of multivariate genetic approaches to improve polygenic (i.e. involving variation across the genome) prediction of cognitive and educationally relevant traits across childhood (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-019-0394-4). Comparing different methods, I showed that polygenic prediction of general intelligence and educational achievement is substantial. For example, it rivals the prediction that can be derived from parental educational level and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, highlighting the importance of multivariate approaches, I showed that the predictive power of polygenic scores can be improved by including information about genetically correlated traits.
STUDY – INTERNALIZING AND NEURODEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS IN YOUNG PEOPLE: EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES IN A LARGE POPULATION-BASED GROUP OF TWINS
Adolescent internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression have been associated with subsequent educational underachievement. However, it has not been investigated if the association is accounted for by NDDs. This study is the first to describe the relationship between internalizing problems at age 15 and educational outcomes in later adolescence while controlling for a wide range of NDDs in childhood, and applying a genetically sensitive design. We used the nation-wide
population-based Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden, comprising 4997 fifteen-year-old Swedish twins born between 1994 and 1998. Internalizing problems and NDDs were measured with parental reports.