Welcome to the Montalvo-Ortiz Lab!
Our Mission
To advance the understanding of the genetic and epigenetic architecture as a way to dissect the underlying mechanisms of the complex interplay between genes and environment that contributes to an increased risk for psychiatric disorders.
We highly value diversity as a driver of scientific excellence, work ethic, creativity, innovation, and the impact of scientific findings on society. In addition, we believe in an environment that fosters collaboration, networking, career development, mentorship, and sponsorship.
Our ultimate mission is to support and provide training to produce successful scientists who will continue our mission and conduct high-quality research work to better understand the underpinnings of psychiatric disorders.
Research Projects
Our group is focused on understanding the genomic and epigenomic architecture of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Epigenomics of Neuropsychiatric Disorders
We use cutting-edge approaches to dissect the epigenomic landscape of psychiatric disorders in human peripheral and postmortem brain tissue. We focused on studying substance use disorders, trauma (childhood maltreatment and post-traumatic stress disorder), and major depression. Multi-omics datasets (genomics, methylomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) are investigated to better understand the underlying mechanisms and identify predictors or biomarkers for these disorders.
Psychiatric Genomics in Admixed Latinx
We also seek to advance psychiatric genomics in LatinX populations based on our work in the Latin American Genomics Consortium (LAGC) and Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). The LAGC comprises ~120 investigators representing several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, as well as the United States and Puerto Rico. The main goals include 1) increasing sample size of genomic studies by meta-analysis, 2) recruitment and genotyping of new samples, 3) methods development and 4) education and training.