The GEMS Project

GEL team members working on the project: Anja Hollowell, Dr Anna Gui, Professor Angelica Ronald

Co-investigators and collaborators include: Prof. Mark Johnson, Prof. Frank Dudbridge, Dr. Tomoki Arichi, Dr. Alexandra Havdahl, Prof. Catharina Hartman, Dr. Elise Robinson, Prof. Iroise Dumontheil, the EAGLE consortium

Funded by: Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and UK Economic and Social Research Council

The Project: The Genetics of Early Milestones and Skills (GEMS) study aims to map the common genetic architecture of psychologically-relevant traits in infancy and early childhood.

We are conducting gene discovery projects on infant temperament and fine and gross motor milestones, including developmental cohorts from around the world. This allows us to study the shared mechanisms underlying these infant traits and later outcomes including autism and other neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions.

Cohorts: We are interested in working with cohorts in this study. If you have a genotyped cohort of infant participants please get in touch about collaborating with us!

Contact: agui01@mail.bbk.ac.uk

Publications:

Gui, A. (2021). A neurodevelopmental perspective on sex-differentiated genetic effects on behavior, Biological Psychiatry, 89:12, e63-e65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.04.011

Papageorgiou, K.A. and Ronald A. (2017). The genetic basis of psychological traits in infancy: Implications for understanding the causes of developmental psychopathology, in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology, D.M. Williams and L.C. Centifanti, Editors. Wiley-Blackwell: London

Papageorgiou, K.A. and Ronald A. (2013). “He who sees things grow from the beginning will have the finest view of them”. A systematic review of genetic studies on psychological traits in infancy. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 37(8). 1500-1517