Marcus Robert Munafo

The carbon footprint of science when it fails to self-correct

The paper estimates the carbon footprint of continued research on an irreproducible genetic association, finding it to be approximately 30,068 tons of CO2 equivalent.

Residual Partial Least Squares Learning: Brain Cortical Thickness Simultaneously Predicts Eight Non-pairwise-correlated Behavioural and Disease Outcomes in Alzheimer's Disease

This paper introduces re-PLS Learning to predict multiple AD outcomes from brain cortical thickness, identifying joint predictive regions across cohorts.

Investigating the effect of sexual behaviour on oropharyngeal cancer risk: a methodological assessment of Mendelian randomization

This study uses Mendelian randomization to assess the causal effect of sexual behavior on oropharyngeal cancer risk, finding attenuated associations after adjusting for confounders.

Uncovering the Genetic Architecture of Broad Antisocial Behavior through a Genome-Wide Association Study Meta-analysis.

This study identifies genetic variants associated with antisocial behavior through a genome-wide association meta-analysis, finding significant links to FOXP2 and correlations with multiple health and behavioral traits.

Exploring the relationship between schizophrenia and cardiovascular disease: A genetic correlation and multivariable Mendelian randomization study

This study investigates genetic correlations and bidirectional effects between schizophrenia and cardiovascular disease, finding schizophrenia increases heart failure risk and early repolarization risk.

Examining the bidirectional association between emotion recognition and autistic traits using observational and genetic analyses

This study examines the bidirectional relationship between emotion recognition and autistic traits using observational and genetic data from a large cohort.

The effect of smoking on multiple sclerosis: a mendelian randomization study

This study uses Mendelian randomization to assess if smoking causally affects multiple sclerosis risk, finding no significant association.

Smoking, DNA methylation and lung function: a Mendelian randomization analysis to investigate causal relationships

This study uses Mendelian randomization to investigate causal relationships between smoking-associated DNA methylation and lung function, identifying 18 CpGs with potential causal effects on FEV1.

Emotional recognition training modifies neural response to emotional faces but does not improve mood in healthy volunteers with high levels of depressive symptoms

This paper investigates the effects of emotion recognition training on neural responses and mood in individuals with high depressive symptoms, finding neural changes but no mood improvement.

A Bayesian predictive approach for dealing with pseudoreplication

The paper introduces a Bayesian predictive approach to address pseudoreplication in biological research, demonstrating its effectiveness with two in vivo datasets.

Slope-Hunter: A robust method for index-event bias correction in genome-wide association studies of subsequent traits

Slope-Hunter corrects index-event bias in GWAS of subsequent traits by identifying and adjusting for genetic variants affecting only incidence, improving statistical performance in the presence of genetic correlation.

Investigating causal pathways between liability to ADHD and substance use, and liability to substance use and ADHD risk, using Mendelian randomization.

This study uses Mendelian randomization to investigate bidirectional causal relationships between ADHD liability and substance use, finding evidence of causal effects in both directions for smoking and cannabis use.

Exploration of the role of CHRNA5-A3-B4 genotype in smoking behaviours

The paper investigates how CHRNA5-A3-B4 gene variants affect smoking behaviors and nicotine responses in humans, finding reduced cravings and smoke inhalation in minor allele carriers.

Smoking and the risk for bipolar disorder: causal evidence from a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

This paper uses Mendelian randomization to show smoking increases bipolar disorder risk, but bipolar disorder does not strongly affect smoking behavior.

Evidence for genetic correlations and bidirectional, causal effects between smoking and sleep behaviours

This study identifies genetic correlations and causal effects between smoking and sleep behaviors using genome-wide association and Mendelian randomization analyses.

Investigating genetic correlations and causal effects between caffeine consumption and sleep behaviours

This study investigates genetic correlations and causal effects between caffeine consumption and sleep behaviors using GWAS and Mendelian randomization, finding no evidence of genetic or causal links.

What exactly is ‘N’ in cell culture and animal experiments?

The paper examines how sample size (N) is defined in experiments, finding that only 22% correctly replicate the entity-intervention pair, while 46% pseudoreplicate and 32% provide insufficient information.

The molecular genetics of participation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

The paper investigates how genetic factors influence participation in a longitudinal study, finding polygenic associations with participation rates and highlighting potential biases in genetic studies due to selection.

Genome-wide association analysis of lifetime cannabis use (N=184,765) identifies new risk loci, genetic overlap with mental health, and a causal influence of schizophrenia on cannabis use

This study identifies 4 new risk loci for cannabis use through GWAS, finds genetic overlap with mental health, and shows a causal link between schizophrenia and cannabis use.

Associations of coffee genetic risk scores with coffee, tea and other beverages in the UK Biobank

The paper examines how genetic risk scores for coffee consumption relate to other beverages, finding associations with coffee, tea, and decaffeinated drinks, but not with other beverages or water.

Cigarette smoking increases coffee consumption: findings from a Mendelian randomisation analysis

This study uses Mendelian randomisation to show that higher cigarette consumption causally increases coffee intake, with weaker evidence for tea.