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In a landmark research study, scientists have unveiled the results of a comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS), published in Nature Genetics, shedding new light on the genetic factors underlying cannabis use disorders (CanUD) and their potential link to lung cancer.

If you have a family member that suffers from depression, chances are you may have more than one. Doctors often say “depression runs in families,” but scientists really had no good idea how—until a major analysis of the genomes of 200,000 military veterans uncovered the 178 genes that influence your risk of major depression. Science Friday producer Katie Feather talked to Dr. Daniel Levey, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. He explains why there are so many associated genes, and more about the massive database that helped scientists find them.

A Yale-led analysis of the genomes of more than 1 million people has shed light on the underlying biology of cannabis use disorder and associated risks.

Daniel Levey, PhD, Associate Research Scientist in Psychiatry, and Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics and of Neuroscience, are among the authors of a study relating DNA variations and anxiety disorders which has revealed several previously unidentified locations in the human genome where variations in the sequence tend to occur in people with anxiety, compared with people who don't have anxiety.

Yale scientists, led by first author Priya Gupta, PhD, postdoctoral associate, and senior author Daniel F. Levey, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, investigated the complex underlying genetic architecture of the "big five" personality traits in a cohort of 682,688 people, the largest study of its kind. The results were published in Nature Human Behavior.

VA Connecticut Healthcare Center and Yale School of Medicine researchers have completed the first well-powered, genome-wide association study of epiretinal membrane, a common retinal disorder that often causes visual distortion or loss of visual acuity. The first author was Joel Gelernter, MD. Co-author was Daniel Levey, PhD.

Marco Galimberti, PhD, postdoctoral associate, and Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics and of Neuroscience, are first and senior authors, respectively, of a paper on Molecular Psychiatry that investigates the genetic architecture and causal relationships between cannabis use disorder and lifetime cannabis use with risk for developing substance use disorders and substance use traits.

A collection of recent studies from YSM