Approved Research

Effects of genomic, metabolomic, environmental and clinical factors on neurological and psychiatric disorders, and construction of predictive models

Lay summary

Incidences and prevalences of neurological and psychiatric disorders (including dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), depression, cognitive decline, anxiety, epilepsy, and autism, etc.) have largely increased in the last few years and have become a heavy burden on the society worldwide. However, the causes and pathogenic mechanism of these illnesses are still very limited at present. It is believed that the causes of these illnesses are complex and multifactorial, and both genetic and environmental factors may contribute to these illnesses.

In this project, based on the abundant, comprehensive, and complete genomic, metabolomic, environmental and clinical information from UK Biobank database, we aim to 1) systematically investigate the risk factors of neurological and psychiatric disorders; 2) construct poly-genic risk score models for these illnesses; 3) identify the interactions of human genome and environmental factors on these illnesses; 4) predict the risk of these illnesses by using artificial neural network while combining multiple data.

This project is expected to last three years. We believe that our project results will attain a substantially broader knowledge on the causes and pathogenic mechanism of neurological and psychiatric disorders and can also be useful for the early identification and prevention of these illnesses in the population.

Scope extension, June 2024:

In addition to psychiatric disorders, the burden of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, endocrine system diseases, digestive system diseases, respiratory system diseases, and urinary system diseases, has also seen a significant rise globally. These chronic diseases may have a complex etiology that involves a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental influences. Leveraging the rich datasets provided by the UKB, our expanded project aims to investigate the underlying causes and pathogenic mechanisms of these chronic diseases. We will analyze the genomic, metabolomic, environmental, and clinical data to identify potential risk factors and pathways relating to chronic diseases. This comprehensive approach will enable us to develop predictive models not only for psychiatric disorders but also for a range of chronic diseases, ultimately contributing to better prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies.