2022—2023 Academic Year
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2022 FALL | Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Thursdays, 10–11:30 AM ǀ 1328 Sterling Hall/virtual
September 15, 2022
Introductions and Updates
October 6, 2022
Nichola Barban (University of Bologna) Gene-Environment Effects on Female Fertility (tentative)
October 14, 2022 (*Friday Afternoon)
Hilldale Lecture in the Biological Sciences:
Molly Przeworski (Columbia) “Why Do Germline Mutation Rates Depend on Sex and Age?”
Wisconsin Idea Room, School of Education
October 20, 2022
Lauren Schmitz and Qiongshi Lu “Research updates from Lu and Schmitz”
October 27th
Canceled
November 3, 2022
Zhongxuan Sun; virtual, “Biases in GWAS of the family history of illnesses in the UK Biobank”
November 10, 2022
Canceled
November 17, 2022
Eirini Marouli (Queen Mary University London); virtual, “Cause or Effect? Bioinformatics and the Interplay between genetics and disease”
December 1, 2022
Canceled
December 8, 2022
Lichen Dong “Variance Decomposition of Polygenic Scores”
December 15, 2022
Jiacheng Miao “Reimagining polygenic risk prediction model”
2021—2022 Academic Year
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2021 FALL ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Thursdays, 10–11:30 AM ǀ 1328 Sterling Hall/virtual
September 9
Lauren Schmitz: “Genetic and Environmental Influences on Schooling and Lifetime Earnings: Evidence from the U.S. High School Movement” (with David Weir) (Video)
September 16
Jason Fletcher: “Neighbors as Environments in GxE Research”
September 23
Shiro Furuya: “The Big (Genetic) Sort? Reassessing Migration Patterns and Their Genetic Imprint in the UK”
September 30
Jiacheng Miao: “Polygenic GxE: a new deal” (with Qiongshi Lu)
October 7
Jiacheng Miao: “Leveraging local genetic correlation to improve trans-ethnic polygenic prediction via Bayesian regression and grouped continuous shrinkage priors” (with Qiongshi Lu)
October 14
Jie Song: “Genetic correlation partition using UKB sibling data” (with Clara Zou, Yiliang Zhang, Jason Fletcher, and Qiongshi Lu)
October 21
Lauren Schmitz: “In Utero Exposures and Epigenetic Aging Signatures: Evidence from the U.S. Great Depression” (with Valentina Duque, University of Sydney) (Video)
November 11
Elena Bernabeu (University of Edinburgh), virtual guest presenter, “In Utero Exposures and Epigenetic Aging Signatures: Evidence from the U.S. Great Depression” (Video)
December 9
Stephanie von Hinke (University of Bristol), virtual guest presenter, “The Long-Term effects of Early Life Pollution Exposure”
December 16 at 4 PM
Sarah Brislin (Virginia Commonwealth University), virtual guest presenter, “Leveraging Information Across Neural, Genetic, and Environmental Indicators to Understand Risk for Externalizing”
October 28–29 ǀ 12th Annual IGSS Conference at University of Colorado Boulder
Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences 2021
Keynote Speaker: Melinda Mills (University of Oxford): “Why the social sciences and genetics need each other”
The 12th annual Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences (IGSS) conference was held at the University of Colorado at Boulder and virtually on October 28-29, 2021. IGSS showcases behavioral and molecular genetic studies that enhance demographic and social scientific inquiry and integrate genetics and the social sciences. Fourteen UW–Madison faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and students gave flash presentations of their research at the conference.
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- Jerome Choi: “Assessing the Biological Mechanisms between Smoking Behavior and Alzheimer’s Disease: Evidence from Metabolomic and Epigenomic Data”
- Shiro Furuya: “The Big (Genetic) Sort? Reassessing Migration Patterns and Their Genetic Imprint in the UK”
- Julia Goodwin: “The Impact of the High School Movement on Epigenetic Aging”
- Qiongshi Lu: “Estimating social genetic effects on Alzheimer’s disease”
- Kristen Malecki: “Cumulative Environmental Exposures (Social* Environment) and Accelerated Biological Aging”
- Jiacheng Miao: “A quantile integral linear model to quantify genetic effects on phenotypic variability”
- Brooke Sasia: “Direct and Indirect Polygenic Scores for Externalizing and Trajectories of Antisocial Behavior”
- Lauren Schmitz: “In Utero Exposures and Epigenetic Aging Signatures: Evidence from the U.S. Great Depression”
- Jie Song: “Estimating genetic correlation of direct and indirect effect using UK Biobank sibling data”
- Michael Topping: “The Effects of Education on Cognition in Older Age: Evidence from Genotyped Siblings”
- Eva Vasiljevic: “Cognitive trajectory divergence by genetic risk in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention”
- Yuchang Wu: “GWAS on Birth Year Infant Mortality Rates Provides New Evidence of Recent Natural Selection”
- Yuexuan Xu: “Effect of Pathway-specific Polygenic Risk Scores for Alzheimer’s Disease on Rate of Change in Cognitive Function and AD-related Biomarkers among Asymptomatic Individuals”
- Boyan Zheng: “Long Term Impacts of Life Family Instability on Adulthood Depression: The Role of Genetic Sensitivity and Time”
November 18–19 ǀ Frontiers in Economic Analysis with Genetic Data Conference
A special conference on social genomics, co-hosted by the Initiative in Social Genomics, the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, and the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago, was held on November 18–19. The conference covered topics ranging from child development, health behaviors, life cycle decision making, intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status, and ethical implications of combining genetics with social science.
Thursday, November 18, 2021 |
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| Time | Session | Speaker | Discussant | Paper Title | |
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | ||||
| 8:25 am | Welcome and Opening Remarks | ||||
| 8:30–9:20 am | Human Capital: Gene X Environment | Titus Galama | Norma Coe | “Sources of Inequality at Birth: the Interplay Between Genes and Parental Socioeconomic Status” (Video) | |
| 9:20–10:10 am | Human Capital: Gene X Environment | Robel Alemu | Norma Coe | “Gene-Environment Interaction Effects of Cigarette Taxes on Smoking Behavior and Health Conditions of Older Adults in the United States” (Video) | |
| 10:10–10:30 am | Break | ||||
| 10:30–11:20 am | Life Cycle Behaviors I | Leandro Carvalho | George-Levi Gayle | “Genetics, Education, and Income” | |
| 11:20 am–12:10 pm | Life Cycle Behaviors I | Mateo Velásquez-Giraldo | George-Levi Gayle | “Genetic Endowments, Income Dynamics, and Wealth Accumulation Over the Lifecycle” (Video) | |
| 12:10–1:15 pm | Lunch | ||||
| 1:15–2:05 pm | Human Capital: Nature and Nurture | Victor Ronda | Orazio Attanasio | “The Nurture of Nature and the Nature of Nurture: How Genes and Investments Interact in the Formation of Skills” (Video) | |
| 2:05–2:55 pm | Human Capital: Nature and Nurture | Jonathan Beauchamp | Orazio Attanasio | “Nature and nurture: Evidence from molecular genetics data in Korean American adoptees” (Video) | |
| 2:55–3:20 pm | Break | ||||
| 3:20–4:10 pm | Life Cycle Behaviors II | Silvia Barcellos | Matthew Wiswall | “The Effect of Education on the Relationship between Genetics, Early-Life Disadvantages, and Later-Life SES” (Video) | |
| 4:10–5:00 pm | Life Cycle Behaviors II | Richard Sias | Basit Zafar | “Molecular Genetics, Risk Aversion, Return Perceptions, and Stock Market Participation” (Video) | |
Friday, November 19, 2021 |
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| Time | Session | Speaker | Discussant | Paper Title | |
| 8:00 am | Breakfast | ||||
| 8:30–9:20 am | Intergenerational Examinations | Bhash Mazumder | Joseph Ferrie | “Understanding Sibling Correlations in Education: Molecular Genetics and Family Background” | |
| 9:20–10:10 am | Intergenerational Examinations | Aldo Rustichini | “Selection in Ancient DNA” (Video) | ||
| 10:10–10:30 am | Break | ||||
| 10:30–11:30 am | Next Frontiers I | Daniel Benjamin and David Cesarini | “Frontiers in Within-Family Analysis” (Video) | ||
| 11:30–11:45 am | Break | ||||
| 11:45 am–12:15 pm | Next Frontiers II | Lauren Schmitz | “Promises and Pitfalls of Integrating Epigenetic Data into Economic Research” | ||
| 12:15–12:45 pm | Next Frontiers II | Patrick Turley | “Challenges and directions in genomics research using diverse-ancestry samples” (Video) | ||
| 12:45–1:30 pm | Lunch / Depart | ||||
2022 SPRING ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Wednesdays, 9–10:30 AM ǀ virtual
January 19
Announcements and project updates
January 26
Shiro Furuya: “Retirement makes you old? Effects of retirement on biological age” (Video, Upon request)
February 9
Boyan Zheng: “Changing Effects of Genes over time? Analysis of Gene-by-Cohort Interaction in Health and Life Outcome using the UK Biobank Data” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
February 16
Jiacheng Miao: “PIGEON: a novel method to estimate polygenic gene-environment interactions” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
March 2
Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez (UCLA): “Modeling biological age and its link with the aging process at the population level” (Video)
March 30
Boyan Zheng: Results update: “Family Instability by Gene Interaction/Gene by Cohort Interaction”
May 11
Emilie Courtin (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine): “The changing association between genetic risk and cognitive decline over time: An observational study in the United States and England. (Video)
2020—2021 Academic Year
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2020 FALL ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Thursdays, 10–11:30 AM ǀ virtual
September 3
Overview/announcements and introductions, followed by breakout rooms
September 10
Yuchang Wu: “Estimating genetic nurture using summary statistics of multi-generational genome-wide association study”
September 25
Madison-Amsterdam Journal Club – Sjoerd van Alten (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam): discussed A. Young, S. Nehzati, C. Lee, et al., “Mendelian imputation of parental genotypes for genome-wide estimation of direct and indirect genetic effects”
–bioBxiv
October 8
Rosa Cheesman (King’s College London), guest presenter: “How important are parents in the development of child anxiety and depression? A genomic analysis of parent-offspring trios in the Norwegian Mother Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)” (Video)
–medRxiv
October 15
Ben Domingue (Stanford University), guest presenter: “Heteroscedastic regression modeling elucidates gene-by-environment interaction” (Video)
–bioRxiv
October 22
Madison-Amsterdam Journal Club – Andries Marees (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
November 5
Jonathan Beauchamp (George Mason University), guest presenter: “Nature and Nurture: Evidence from Molecular Genetics Data in Adoptees” (Video)
November 12
Philipp Koellinger: “Genetic data in the German Socio-Economic Panel” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
November 19
Andrew Grotzinger (UT Austin), guest presenter: “Using Genomic SEM to Understand Psychiatric Comorbidity” (Video)
September 24 ǀ 11th Annual IGSS Conference at University of Colorado Boulder
Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences 2020 ǀ virtual
Keynote Speaker: Iain Mathieson (University of Pennsylvania), “The relationship between (genetic) demography, polygenic adaption and the evolution of complex traits: what have we learned from ancient DNA?”
The 11th annual Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences (IGSS) conference, sponsored by the CU Population Center, University of Colorado Boulder, was held virtually on September 24, 2020. IGSS showcases behavioral and molecular genetic studies that enhance demographic and social scientific inquiry and integrate genetics and the social sciences. Thirteen UW–Madison faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and students gave flash presentations of their research at the conference.
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- Joseph Clark: “Religious Context and Genetic Influences on Adolescent Drinking”
- Shiro Furuya: “Mismatch between Social Time and Circadian Rhythm”
- Julie Goodwin: “The Impact of Late-Career Job Loss and Genotype on Changes in Body Mass Index”
- Philipp Koellinger: “Genetic fortune: Winning or losing education, income, and health”
- James Li: “RDoC Mechanisms of Transdiagnostic Polygenic Risk for Trajectories of Depression: From Early Adolescence to Adulthood”
- Qiongshi Lu: “Local Genetic Correlation Analysis Reveals Heterogeneous Etiologic Sharing of Complete Traits”
- Lauren Schmitz: “Using Functionally Annotated Polygenic Scores to Explore the Impact of Gene-Environment Interactions on Smoking Behavior”
- Sam Trejo: “Gene-Environment Interactions: Challenges and Recent Developments”
- Yuchang Wu: “Estimating genetic nurture using genome-wide association study summary statistics”
- Yuexuan Xu: “Bald is Beautiful? Life Course Outcomes for Individuals at high Genetic Risk for Male Pattern Baldness (MPB)”
- Zijie Zhao: “Fine-tuning Polygenic Risk Scores with GWAS Summary Statistics”
- Boyan Zheng: “Effects of Fertility on Life Outcomes Among Older Adults: A Novel Genetic Instrumental Variable Approach”
- Xiaoyuan Zhong: “Genetics Meets Population Science: Understanding the Importance of Response Rates in Genetic Discovery and Prediction in the UK Biobank”
2021 SPRING ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Wednesdays, 9–10:30 AM ǀ virtual
January 20
Jiacheng Miao: “A quantile integral linear model to identify genetic loci affecting phenotypic variability”
January 27
Eva Vasiljevic and Yuetiva Robles: “Alzheimer’s disease PGS validity and reliability across studies” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
February 17
Xiaoyuan Zhong: “Using survey weight to account for participation bias in the UK Biobank” (Video)
February 24
Madison-Amsterdam Journal Club (hosted by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) – Yuchang Wu, discussed F. Privé, H. Aschard, L. Folkersen, et al., “High-resolution portability of 240 polygenic scores when derived and applied in the same cohort” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
–medRxiv
March 3
Kristen Malecki: “Population Health Sciences and Opportunities for Aging Socio-genomics Research” (Video)
March 10
Jason Fletcher: “Understanding Sibling Correlations in Education: Genetics and Family Background” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
March 17
Burcu Darst (USC, Postdoctoral Scholar), guest presenter: “Development and application of polygenic risk scores across diverse populations” (Video)
–Nature Genetics
March 31
Alicia Martin (Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital), guest presenter: “Polygenic risk scores for the world: current applications, limitations, and promise” (Video)
April 14
Jasmin Wertz (Duke), guest presenter: “Parental investment across a child’s life: Genetic analysis in a multi-cohort study” (Video)
April 21
Madison-Amsterdam Journal Club (hosted by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) – Sam Trejo, discussed L. Howe, M. Nivard, T. Morris, et al., “Within-sibship GWAS improve estimates of direct genetic effects” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
–bioRxiv
April 28
Madison-Amsterdam Journal Club – Aysu Okbay (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam): “Resource Profile and User Guide of the Polygenic Index Repository” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
February 12 ǀ Integrating Biological and Social Science into Health and Aging Research Conference
Methods Workshop ǀ virtual: “Integrating Biological and Social Science into Health and Aging Research,” part of the series, Advances in New Data & Big Data for Aging Research, co-sponsored by four P30 aging centers.
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- Steve Cole (UCLA): “Social Regulation of Human Gene Expression”
- Lauren Gaydosh (UT Austin): “Aging Across the Life Course: Lessons from Add Health”
- Lauren Schmitz: “Integrating Genomic and Epigenomic Data into Population Research to Illuminate Social Pathways of Aging”
- Sam Trejo: “The Phenotype Differences Model: Identifying Genetic Effects on High Blood Pressure using Incomplete Sibling Data”
- Elliot Tucker-Drob (UT Austin): “Using Genomic SEM to Apply Social Science Models to Genetic Data”
- Patrick Turley (USC): “The Traces of Assortative Mating on the Human Genome Reflect Human Behavior and Social Preferences”
2021 SUMMER ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Tuesdays, 10–11 AM ǀ virtual
May 19
Welcome to Philipp Koellinger and informal discussion on ongoing and potential projects
June 8
Yuchang Wu: “GWAS on Birth Year Infant Mortality Rates Provides New Evidence of Recent Natural Selection” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
June 15
Brooke Sasia: “Direct and indirect polygenic scores and trajectories of externalizing behavior”
2019—2020 Academic Year
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2019 FALL ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Mondays, 2–3 PM ǀ Discovery Building
September 9
Introductions and project updates
Lauren Schmitz: Updates on Specific Aims for R21
Yuchan Wu: Updates on (1) Birth order GWAS+PGS project; (2) Sex-stratified GWAS on smoking behavior in the UKBB; and (3) GWAS of AD family history in the UK Biobank.
Discussion on building an infrastructure to share AddHealth/WLS/HRS genetic and phenotypic data between groups.
September 16
Amy Cochran (UW–Madison, Population Health), guest presenter: “Gene-Set Enrichment with Mathematical Biology”
September 30
L.H. Lumey (Columbia University), guest attendee
October 7
Project updates; and IGSS summary and reflection
October 21
Student Presentations:
Sheng Wang and Zijie Zhao: “The Nature of Nurture”
Julie Goodwin and Eva Vasiljevic: “Variable Prediction Accuracy of PGS Within Ancestry Group”
October 28
Student Presentations:
Julia Carlson, Joseph Clark, and Yuexuan Xu: “Clinical Use of Polygenic Risk Scores (PRS)”
Shiro Furuya and Boyan Zheng: “Deconstructing the sources of genotype-phenotype associations”
November 4
Kevin Thom (UW–Milwaukee), guest attendee
November 11
Lauren Gaydosh (Vanderbilt), guest attendee
Philipp Koellinger (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), guest presenter: Showcase and GIV/MR short course
Student Presentations:
Eva Vasiljevic: “Effect of early-life nutrition on dementia: a natural experiment leveraging the US pellagra epidemic”
Boyan Zheng: “Differential Genetic Susceptibility to Peer’s Depression: Methods and Findings”
Shiro Furuya: “Detecting Genetic Heterogeneities in Response to Trauma: The Case of 9/11”
Joseph Clark: “Religious Contexts and Genetic Influences on Drinking Behaviors”
Julie Goodwin and Lauren Schmitz: “The Impact of Job Loss and Genotype on Health and Health Behaviors”
Jiacheng Miao: “Testing gene-environment interaction without measuring the environment”
Yuchang Wu: “Birth order and smoking/pregnancy”; “Fine-tuning PGS” (Zijie Zhao‘s project)
Yuexuan Xu: “Social effects of baldness PGS”
November 18
Hyunseung Kang and Sheng Wang: “Causal Analysis of Educational Attainment and Alzheimer’s Disease: Mendelian Randomization and Instrumental Variable Approach”
November 25
Scott Hebbring (Marshfield Clinic), guest attendee
Discussion of collaboration opportunities
December 2
Qiongshi Lu: Updates on (1) Gamete simulation and its applications; (2) Dissecting direct and indirect genetic effects using GWAS summary statistics; and (3) Tissue-specific PGS.
December 9
Caiping Wei (UNC, Chapel Hill), guest presenter: “Genes, Gender Inequality, and Educational Attainment,” American Sociological Review paper
2020 SPRING ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Wednesdays, 3:30–5 PM ǀ 2329 Discovery Building /virtual
January 22
Introductions and project updates
Lauren Gaydosh (Vanderbilt), guest attendee
January 29
Yuchang Wu: Updates on (1) Genetics meets population science: understanding the importance of response rates in genetic; (2) Discovery and prediction in the UK Biobank; and (3) Dissecting direct and indirect genetic effects using GWAS summary statistics.
February 12
Lauren Schmitz: Functional PGS
Jason Fletcher and Boyan Zheng: HRS replication
February 19
Discussion on local genetic correlation; and “How to pick a research topic”
February 26
Julie Goodwin and Lauren Schmitz / Qiongshi Lu and Jiacheng Miao: V-PGS Methods and Results
March 4
Discussion on GWAS on age at first marriage
March 11
Hyunseung Kang and Sheng Wang / Jason Fletcher and Boyan Zheng: IV
March 25
Hyunseung Kang and Sheng Wang: Sleep and AD
April 1
Jason Fletcher: Family Analysis with PGS
April 22
Yuchang Wu: “Dissecting direct and indirect genetic effects using GWAS summary statistics”
April 29
Lauren Schmitz: “Social Determinants of DNA Methylation Signatures in MESA”
2020 SUMMER ǀ Meetings
Social Genomics Research Group
Tuesdays, 12–2 PM ǀ virtual
June 9
Jiacheng Miao: “Quantile regression approach to detect vQTL”
June 30
Philipp Koellinger: Genetic and neuroscientific insights on socio-economic status based on results from two ongoing projects; summary of BIG BEAR consortium projects
July 7
Boyan Zheng: “Genetic-by-Peer-Environment Interaction Effects on Adolescent Substance Use”
July 14
Rebecca Johnson (Dartmouth), guest presenter: “v-PGS: A New Tool for G x E” (Video)
–bioRxiv
August 4
Xiaoyuan Zhong: “Understanding participation bias in UK Biobank”
August 11
Joseph Clark: “Religious Context and Genetic Influences on Adolescent Drinking” (Video, Restricted, UW only)
August 18
Frank He: “Examining polygenic protective effect in ADHD” (with James Li and Qiongshi Lu)
August 25
Sam Trejo: “The Phenotype Differences Model: Identifying Genetic Effects with Incomplete Sibling Data”
