The Genetic Basis of Common Complex Diseases

The main goal of my PhD is to improve our understanding of the genetic basis of common complex diseases to better predict disease risk. To do this, I will undertake two main objectives:

1. Model how underlying genetic variants that influence epigenetic variation, histone modification and gene expression influence common diseases or traits such as height and body mass index. My aim is to develop a bayesian linear regression model that estimates the contribution of different genomic regions to complex trait variation. The model will be extended to estimate the contribution of loci that govern gene expression in different tissues. Here, I want to highlight the genetic architecture of common complex diseases by looking at tissue-specific effects.

2. I will improve prediction models for psychiatric disorders by applying the models developed in (1) and (2) to schizophrenia and post-partum depression. I hope to provide an improved understanding of the genetic basis of these disorders, bringing new perspective into the field.