Virginia Commonwealth University

Academic Institute

Jessica SalvatoreMr. Nathaniel Thomas

B3772

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.

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.

13/05/2021