This study constructs a high-resolution placental mQTL resource and investigates how placental DNA methylation relates to early- and later-life traits and their shared vulnerability.

medRxiv · Jul 9, 2026 · PreprintGenetic & Genomic Medicine

Cell type-specific methylome-wide association studies of childhood ADHD symptoms

Mandy Meijer, Marieke Klein, Doretta Caramaschi, Shaunna L. Clark, Marta Cosín‐Tomás, Nastassja Koen, Xueling Lu, Rosa H. Mulder, Stefan W. Röder, Yining Zhang, Lea Zillich, Mariona Bustamente, Michael Deuschle, Janine F. Felix, Juan R. González, , Edwin J. C. G. van den Oord

This study identifies cell type-specific DNA methylation associations with childhood ADHD symptoms using deconvolution and sequencing-based methylation data from peripheral and cord blood.

European Neuropsychopharmacology · Oct 26, 2025Peer-reviewedGenetic & Genomic Medicine

Genome-wide analysis of social behaviour in context: a meta-regression approach across social domains, reporters and developmental stages

Lucía de Hoyos, Fenja Schlag, Sanjeevan Jahagirdar, Elizabeth C. Corfield, Andrea G. Allegrini, Danielle Admiraal, Eveline L. de Zeeuw, Ilja Maria Nolte, Natalia Llonga, Alexander Neumann, Katherine Lange, Simone van den Bedem, Ebba Du Rietz, Ehsan Motazedi, Else Eising, , Beaté St Pourcain

This study uses genome-wide meta-regression to analyze social behavior across different contexts, ages, and reporters, identifying six genetic loci and showing modest heritability.

bioRxiv · Aug 16, 2025 · PreprintGenomics

Genome-wide analyses of vocabulary size in infancy and toddlerhood: associations with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and cognition-related traits

Ellen Verhoef, Andrea G. Allegrini, Philip R. Jansen, Katherine Lange, Carol A. Wang, Angela Tamsin Morgan, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Christos Symeonides, Ole A. Andreassen, Meike Bartels, Dorret Irene Boomsma, Philip S. Dale, Erik Ehli, Dietmar Fernandez-Orth, Mònica Guxens, , Beate St. Pourcain

This study identifies genetic links between early vocabulary development and ADHD and cognition traits using genome-wide analyses.

Biological Psychiatry · Dec 7, 2023Peer-reviewedGenomics

Meta-analysis of epigenome-wide associations between DNA methylation at birth and childhood cognitive skills.

Doretta Caramaschi, Alexander Neumann, Andrés Cárdenas, Gwen N. Tindula, Silvia Alemany, Lea Zillich, Giancarlo Pesce, Jari M. T. Lahti, Alexandra Havdahl, Rosa H. Mulder, Janine F. Felix, Henning W. Tiemeier, Lea Sirignano, Josef Frank, Stephanie H. Witt, , Gemma C. Sharp

This study examines DNA methylation at birth and its association with childhood cognitive skills, finding weak single CpG site associations and one region near DUSP22 linked to non-verbal cognition.

Molecular Psychiatry · Feb 10, 2022Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology

Placental DNA methylation signatures of maternal smoking during pregnancy and potential impacts on fetal growth

Todd M. Everson, Marta Vives-Usano, Emie Seyve, Andrés Cárdenas, Marina Lacasaña, Jeffrey Mark Craig, Corina Lesseur, Emily Baker, Nora Fernández‐Jiménez, Barbara Heude, Patrice Perron, Beatriz González-Alzaga, Jane L. Halliday, Maya A. Deyssenroth, Margaret Rita Karagas, , Mariona Bustamante

This study identifies placental DNA methylation changes linked to maternal smoking during pregnancy and their associations with birth outcomes using data from the PACE consortium.

Nature Communications · Aug 24, 2021Peer-reviewedGenomics

Association between DNA methylation and ADHD symptoms from birth to school age: A prospective meta-analysis

Alexander Neumann, Esther Walton, Silvia Alemany, Charlotte A. M. Cecil, Juan R. González, Dereje D. Jima, Jari M. T. Lahti, Samuli Tuominen, Edward Dylan Barker, Elisabeth B. Binder, Doretta Caramaschi, Ángel Carracedo, Darina Czamara, Jorunn Evandt, Janine F. Felix, , Henning W. Tiemeier

This study identifies DNA methylation sites at birth associated with ADHD symptoms later in childhood, but finds no such associations at school age.

Translational Psychiatry · Nov 12, 2020Peer-reviewedGenetics

DNA methylation signatures of aggression and closely related constructs: A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide studies across the lifespan

Jenny van Dongen, Fiona A. Hagenbeek, Matthew J Suderman, Peter J. Roetman, Karen Sugden, Andreas G. Chiocchetti, Khadeeja Ismail, Rosa H. Mulder, Jonathan D. Hafferty, Mark J. Adams, Rosie May Walker, Stewart W. Morris, Jari M. T. Lahti, Leanne K. Küpers, Geòrgia Escaramís, , Dorret Irene Boomsma

This paper identifies DNA methylation sites associated with aggression through a meta-analysis of epigenome-wide studies across different age groups and tissues.

bioRxiv · Jul 22, 2020 · PreprintGenetics

Low-frequency variation in TP53 has large effects on head circumference and intracranial volume

Simon J. Haworth, Chin Yang Shapland, Caroline Hayward, Bram Peter Prins, Janine F. Felix, Carolina Medina‐Gómez, Fernando Rivadeneira, Carol A. Wang, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Martine Vrijheid, Mònica Guxens, Jordi Sunyer, Ioanna Tachmazidou, Klaudia Walter, Valentina Iotchkova, , David K. Jackson

The paper identifies 9 novel genetic loci, including low-frequency variants in TP53, associated with head circumference and intracranial volume in up to 46,000 individuals.

Nature Communications · Jan 21, 2019Peer-reviewedGenetics

Genetic architecture of early childhood growth phenotypes gives insights into their link with later obesity

N. Maneka G. De Silva, Sylvain P Sebert, Alexessander Couto Alves, Ulla Sovio, Shikta Das, Hendrik Rob Taal, Nicole M. Warrington, Alex Lewin, Marika Kaakinen, Diana L. Cousminer, Elisabeth Thiering, Nicholas John Timpson, Ville Karhunen, Tom A. Bond, Xavier Estivill, , Marjo‐Riitta Järvelin

This study identifies genetic loci associated with early childhood growth phenotypes and links them to later adiposity traits, suggesting potential targets for obesity prevention.

bioRxiv · Jun 16, 2017 · PreprintGenomics