Michael Joseph Meaney

From Geometry to Hierarchy: Charting the Dominant Modes of Human Cortical Function Through Development

This study shows that the development of long-range cortical connections leads to the emergence of hierarchical functional modes in the human cortex, shifting from geometrically driven patterns to sensory-association organization.

Developing a multi-modal neuroimaging-based BrainAge model across childhood

This paper develops and benchmarks BrainAge models using multi-modal neuroimaging data from childhood cohorts to distinguish healthy from symptomatic developmental trajectories.

Rate of brain aging associates with future executive function in Asian children and older adults

This study tests a brain age model on Singaporean children and elderly, finding that brain age gap change relates to future executive function in both groups.

Perinatal environmental enrichment affects murine neonates' brain structure before their active engagement with environment

This study shows environmental enrichment during the perinatal period alters brain structure in mice by P7, with changes in hindbrain, dorsal striatum, and medial habenula, mediated by maternal care.

Resting-state fMRI reveals altered functional connectivity associated with resilience and susceptibility to chronic social defeat stress in mouse brain

This study uses resting-state fMRI to identify differences in functional connectivity between resilient and susceptible mice after chronic social defeat stress, highlighting brain region interactions linked to stress resilience.

A meta-analysis of the effects of early life stress on the prefrontal cortex transcriptome suggests long-term effects on myelin

This paper performs a meta-analysis of gene expression data from five datasets to identify long-term effects of early life stress on the prefrontal cortex, finding consistent downregulation of myelin-related genes and upregulation of genes related to Major Depressive Disorder.

Striatal dopamine gene network moderates the effect of early adversity on the risk for adult psychiatric and cardiometabolic comorbidity

The paper shows that a polygenic score for striatal dopamine transporter gene network interacts with birth weight to predict psychiatric and cardiometabolic comorbidities in adults and adolescents.

Expression based polygenic scores - A gene network perspective to capture individual differences in biological processes.

The paper introduces expression-based polygenic scores (ePGS) that integrate gene co-expression networks to better capture individual differences in biological processes compared to traditional polygenic risk scores.

In-vivo whole-cortex estimation of excitation-inhibition ratio indexes cortical maturation and cognitive ability in youth

The paper estimates the whole-cortex excitation-inhibition ratio using fMRI and shows it declines during youth, with lower ratios linked to better cognitive performance in children.

Mechanistic convergence of depression and suicidality on astrocyte fatty acid metabolism

This study identifies expression networks of MDD risk genes linked to astrocyte fatty acid metabolism and suicidal ideation, suggesting PPARA as a therapeutic target.

Homotopic local-global parcellation of the human cerebral cortex from resting-state functional connectivity

The paper develops homotopic local-global parcellations of the human cerebral cortex using resting-state and task-fMRI, showing improved homogeneity and lateralization compared to existing parcellations.

Homeostatic inflammation in the placenta is protective against adult cardiovascular and depressive outcomes

The paper defines a homeostatic inflammation signature in the placenta, creates a polygenic score, and shows its protective effects on cardiovascular and depressive outcomes using UK Biobank data.

Microglial function moderates the relation between depression risk factors and depression outcomes across the life course in females

The paper shows that microglial function influences how depression risk factors affect depression outcomes differently in females compared to males across the life course.

A Sex-Specific Genome-Wide Association Study of Depression Phenotypes in UK Biobank

This study identifies sex-specific genetic markers and pathways for depression using UK Biobank data, showing distinct genetic correlations and predictive power in males and females.

A Sparse Additive Model for High-Dimensional Interactions with an Exposure Variable

The paper introduces a method called sail to detect non-linear interactions between a key exposure variable and high-dimensional data, showing it outperforms existing methods in prediction and support recovery.

Methylome-wide association study of early life stressors and adult mental health reveals a relationship between birth date and cell type composition in blood

This study investigates the relationship between early life stressors and adult mental health through methylome-wide association studies, finding no evidence of methylome mediation but linking birth date to blood cell type composition.

Genomic Modules and Intramodular Network Convergency of Susceptibility and Resilience in Multimodeled Stress in Male Mice

The paper identifies convergent genomic modules in stress models of mice, revealing shared biological functions across different stress paradigms.

Internalizing Symptoms Associate with the Pace of Epigenetic Aging in Childhood

This study finds that internalizing symptoms in early childhood predict higher epigenetic age acceleration at age 6, which is linked to later internalizing symptoms.

Gene-expression profiling of single cells from archival tissue with laser-capture microdissection and Smart-3SEQ

This paper introduces Smart-3SEQ, a method for accurate gene expression profiling from small RNA samples, including FFPE tissue, and demonstrates its application to identify new macrophage phenotypes in the tumor microenvironment.

Epigenetic signatures of chronic social stress in stress-susceptible animals

The paper identifies epigenetic changes in mice exposed to chronic social defeat stress, showing convergence with human neuroticism pathways.

Variably methylated regions in the newborn epigenome: environmental, genetic and combined influences

The paper examines how genetic and environmental factors influence DNA methylation at variably methylated regions in neonatal blood, finding that combined effects best explain methylation variability.

A biologically-informed polygenic score identifiesendophenotypes and clinical conditions associated with the insulinreceptor function on specific brain regions

The paper introduces a biologically informed polygenic score for insulin receptor-related genes in mesocorticolimbic regions and shows it better predicts childhood impulsivity and early addiction risk than conventional scores.

BECon: A tool for interpreting DNA methylation findings from blood in the context of brain

BECon provides metrics to interpret blood-based DNA methylation results in the context of brain tissue using paired blood and brain samples.