Dana B. Hancock

A Polygenic Score for Smoking Persistence Captures Differences in Cessation Age

This paper develops a polygenic score for smoking persistence and finds it is associated with earlier or later cessation ages across diverse populations.

Molecular impact of nicotine and smoking exposure on the developing and adult mouse brain

This study compares the molecular effects of prenatal nicotine exposure and maternal smoking during pregnancy on mouse brain development and adulthood, finding distinct gene expression changes in pups but not adults.

A single-nucleus multiome analysis of transcriptome and chromatin accessibility reveals cell-type-specific immune modulation for chronic cannabis use among people with HIV infection

This study uses single-nucleus multi-omic analysis to show cannabis use in HIV patients alters gene expression and chromatin accessibility in immune cell types, with cell-type-specific effects on inflammation and transcription factor regulation.

Multi-ancestry meta-analysis of tobacco use disorder based on electronic health record data prioritizes novel candidate risk genes and reveals associations with numerous health outcomes

This study performs a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of tobacco use disorder using electronic health records, identifying 88 risk loci and 461 potential risk genes, and linking TUD to various health outcomes.

Evaluation of methods incorporating biological function and GWAS summary statistics to accelerate discovery

This study evaluates 18 functional weighting methods to enhance GWAS discovery, finding some methods can nominate high PPV variants for multiple traits without increasing sample size.

Expanding the pool of public controls for GWAS via a method for combining genotypes from arrays and sequencing

This paper introduces a method to combine genotypes from genotyping arrays and whole genome sequencing to expand public controls for GWAS, improving power for non-European ancestries.

Single-nucleus transcriptome analysis reveals cell type-specific molecular signatures across reward circuitry in the human brain

The paper uses snRNA-seq to analyze five human brain regions, identifies novel neuronal subpopulations, and links them to psychiatric and substance use risks.

Strategies for cellular deconvolution in human brain RNA sequencing data

The paper shows that incorporating cell size parameters improves deconvolution of brain RNA-seq data, but using external cell size estimates can introduce bias.

Convergence of case-specific epigenetic alterations identify a confluence of genetic vulnerabilities tied to opioid dependence

The paper identifies case-specific epigenetic alterations in opioid dependence using ChIP-seq and Hi-C, revealing convergent regulatory loci associated with genetic and environmental risk factors.

Chromatin architecture in addiction circuitry elucidates biological mechanisms underlying cigarette smoking and alcohol use traits.

The paper uses Hi-C data to link genetic risk variants for smoking and alcohol use to specific genes and pathways in brain regions involved in addiction.

Genetic architecture of four smoking behaviors using partitioned h2SNP.

The paper estimates SNP-based heritability for four smoking behaviors using partitioned h2SNP in the UK Biobank, finding modest heritability and significant contributions from low-frequency variants.

Expanding the Genetic Architecture of Nicotine Dependence and its Shared Genetics with Multiple Traits: Findings from the Nicotine Dependence GenOmics (iNDiGO) Consortium

The paper identifies novel genetic loci associated with nicotine dependence and shows genetic correlations with other smoking traits and comorbidities using genome-wide association studies.

Epigenome-wide analysis uncovers a blood-based DNA methylation biomarker of lifetime cannabis use.

The paper identifies a DNA methylation biomarker in blood associated with lifetime cannabis use and develops a classifier to detect cannabis use.

Genome-wide DNA methylation differences in nucleus accumbens of smokers vs. nonsmokers

This study identifies DNA methylation differences in the nucleus accumbens of smokers versus nonsmokers, revealing both shared and tissue-specific CpGs associated with smoking.

Leveraging genome-wide data to investigate differences between opioid use vs. opioid dependence in 41,176 individuals from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

The paper compares genome-wide data from opioid use and dependence cases to identify genetic associations and differences between exposure and dependence.

Developmental effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on the human frontal cortex transcriptome

This study identifies gene expression changes in the prenatal human cortex due to maternal smoking and links them to neuropsychiatric disorder risk genes.

Association Between Substance Use Disorder And Polygenic Liability To Schizophrenia

The paper investigates the genetic link between schizophrenia and substance use disorder, finding shared polygenic liability across multiple datasets.