Laura Marianne Huckins, PhD
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Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Biography
Dr. Laura Huckins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She received her masters in BioEngineering from Imperial College London in 2011, and her PhD in Molecular Biology and Psychiatric Genetics from the University of Cambridge in 2015. Her research focuses primarily on studying psychiatric disorders, with an emphasis on eating disorders and PTSD, as well as development and application of multi-omic methods to interpret the functional consequences of GWAS variants. Her lab focuses particularly on Eating Disorders and PTSD; to this end, she is co-chair of the PGC Eating Disorders working group.
Dr. Huckins' work is funded by the Klarman Family Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Appointments
Psychiatry
Associate Professor on TermPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Postdoc
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2017)
- PhD
- University of Cambridge, Molecular Biology (2015)
- MSc
- Imperial College London, BioEngineering (2011)
Research
Overview
Research Areas of Focus:
Transcriptomic Imputation
Transcriptomic Imputation approaches use eQTL reference data to create predictors of gene expression in specific tissues. These models may then be applied to genotype data to calculate predicted genetically regulated gene expression (GREX), and to test for associations between GREX and a trait of interest. These models may also be applied to summary statistics to translate GWAS data into GREX associations.
The Huckins Lab develops and applies these models; in particular, we focus on (1) improvement of statistical methodology underlying model creation; (2) probing spatio-temporal specificity of these models; (3) expansion to multi-omic prediction. We apply these models to psychiatric traits and disorders.
Disorders of Interest
The Huckins Lab focuses on understudied psychiatric disorders. In particular, we are interested in disorders affecting women, children, and vulnerable populations.
Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders are highly complex, dangerous, and understudied neuropsychiatric disorders. EDs have significant heritability (50-80%), in line with other psychiatric disorders, and have the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorders. Despite this, ED research receives ~$1 for every $70 spent on other major mental disorders.
EDs affect all genders, races, ethnic groups, and people of all ages. EDs may disproportionately affect members of the LGBTQIA community (16% of transgender college students report having an eating disorder, as do 3.5% of sexual minority women, and 2.1% of sexual minority men) and active duty personnel (~9% of women and ~7.5% of men have or develop an eating disorder during active duty).
The Huckins Lab is dedicated to addressing this dearth of ED research. Dr. Huckins has been involved in ED research since her PhD- including work on the first GWAS for Anorexia Nervosa, the first study of low-frequency variation, and the first study of transcriptomic imputation. Our work focuses on elucidating the tissues and systems involved in EDs, and studying multi-omic involvement, including gene expression, histone modifications, and microbiome involvement.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Following a life-threatening traumatic exposure, about 10% of those exposed are at considerable risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe and disabling syndrome characterized by uncontrollable intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance behaviours, and hyperarousal in addition to impaired cognition and negative emotion symptoms.
The Huckins Lab is interested in understanding the genetic basis of susceptibility/resilience to PTSD following trauma. A key focus of our group is understanding differing genetic aetiologies and risk factors for PTSD according to trauma type, in particular sexual assault.
Our analyses include a range of genetic, genomic, and multi-omic investigations into (1) predicting PTSD trajectory; (2) identifying shared and distinct genetic aetiologies for military and civilian PTSD; (3) identifying biological systems involved in PTSD using multi-omic imputation.
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Publications Timeline
Kristen Brennand, PhD
Publications
2022
Exploring the clinical and genetic associations of adult weight trajectories using electronic health records in a racially diverse biobank: a phenome-wide and polygenic risk study
Xu J, Johnson JS, Signer R, Consortium E, Birgegård A, Jordan J, Kennedy MA, Landén M, Maguire SL, Martin NG, Mortensen PB, Petersen LV, Thornton LM, Bulik CM, Huckins LM. Exploring the clinical and genetic associations of adult weight trajectories using electronic health records in a racially diverse biobank: a phenome-wide and polygenic risk study. The Lancet Digital Health 2022, 4: e604-e614. PMID: 35780037, PMCID: PMC9612590, DOI: 10.1016/s2589-7500(22)00099-1.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsElectronic health recordsPolygenic risk scoresWeight trajectoriesDepression polygenic risk scoresObesity polygenic risk scoresHealth recordsWeight changeUK BiobankIndividual health statusLower disease riskGenetic associationPatient populationUS National InstitutesWeight managementStable weightRisk scoreHealthy populationHealth statusAnorexia nervosaBioMe BiobankDisease riskDisorder diagnosisMental healthWeight lossPhenome-wide association studyWhat next for eating disorder genetics? Replacing myths with facts to sharpen our understanding
Huckins LM, Signer R, Johnson J, Wu YK, Mitchell KS, Bulik CM. What next for eating disorder genetics? Replacing myths with facts to sharpen our understanding. Molecular Psychiatry 2022, 27: 3929-3938. PMID: 35595976, PMCID: PMC9718676, DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01601-y.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsPredicted gene expression in ancestrally diverse populations leads to discovery of susceptibility loci for lifestyle and cardiometabolic traits.
Highland HM, Wojcik GL, Graff M, Nishimura KK, Hodonsky CJ, Baldassari AR, Cote AC, Cheng I, Gignoux CR, Tao R, Li Y, Boerwinkle E, Fornage M, Haessler J, Hindorff LA, Hu Y, Justice AE, Lin BM, Lin D, Stram DO, Haiman CA, Kooperberg C, Le Marchand L, Matise TC, Kenny EE, Carlson CS, Stahl EA, Avery CL, North KE, Ambite JL, Buyske S, Loos RJ, Peters U, Young KL, Bien SA, Huckins LM. Predicted gene expression in ancestrally diverse populations leads to discovery of susceptibility loci for lifestyle and cardiometabolic traits. American Journal Of Human Genetics 2022, 109: 669-679. PMID: 35263625, PMCID: PMC9069067, DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.02.013.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMapping anorexia nervosa genes to clinical phenotypes.
Johnson JS, Cote AC, Dobbyn A, Sloofman LG, Xu J, Cotter L, Charney AW, Birgegård A, Jordan J, Kennedy M, Landén M, Maguire SL, Martin NG, Mortensen PB, Thornton LM, Bulik CM, Huckins LM. Mapping anorexia nervosa genes to clinical phenotypes. Psychological Medicine 2022, 1-15. PMID: 35379376, DOI: 10.1017/S0033291721004554.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltered gene expression and PTSD symptom dimensions in World Trade Center responders
Marchese S, Cancelmo L, Diab O, Cahn L, Aaronson C, Daskalakis NP, Schaffer J, Horn SR, Johnson JS, Schechter C, Desarnaud F, Bierer LM, Makotkine I, Flory JD, Crane M, Moline JM, Udasin IG, Harrison DJ, Roussos P, Charney DS, Koenen KC, Southwick SM, Yehuda R, Pietrzak RH, Huckins LM, Feder A. Altered gene expression and PTSD symptom dimensions in World Trade Center responders. Molecular Psychiatry 2022, 27: 2225-2246. PMID: 35177824, DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01457-2.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsPTSD symptom dimensionsPosttraumatic stress disorderCAPS scoresAnxious arousal symptomsSymptom dimensionsWorld Trade Center rescueClinician-Administered PTSD Scale scoresBiomarker of PTSDArousal symptomsCD4 T cellsWorld Trade Center respondersDevelopment of PTSDTotal CAPS scoresCase/control statusTherapeutic target developmentIdentification of biomarkersClinical interview dataResponder cohortPTSD symptom severityPotential biological differencesWTC respondersT cellsGene expressionPTSD studiesPsychiatric disordersComparison of confound adjustment methods in the construction of gene co-expression networks
Cote AC, Young HE, Huckins LM. Comparison of confound adjustment methods in the construction of gene co-expression networks. Genome Biology 2022, 23: 44. PMID: 35115012, PMCID: PMC8812044, DOI: 10.1186/s13059-022-02606-0.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and Concepts
2021
Induction of dopaminergic neurons for neuronal subtype-specific modeling of psychiatric disease risk
Powell SK, O’Shea C, Townsley K, Prytkova I, Dobrindt K, Elahi R, Iskhakova M, Lambert T, Valada A, Liao W, Ho SM, Slesinger PA, Huckins LM, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Induction of dopaminergic neurons for neuronal subtype-specific modeling of psychiatric disease risk. Molecular Psychiatry 2021, 28: 1970-1982. PMID: 34493831, PMCID: PMC8898985, DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01273-0.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsInduced dopaminergic neuronsDopaminergic neuronsMidbrain dopaminergic neuron developmentNeuron identityHuman induced pluripotent stem cellsCannabis use disorderDopaminergic neuron developmentAction potential durationGlutamatergic neuronsDopamine synthesisSpontaneous burstsPotential durationUse disordersNeuronal subtypesPsychiatric diseasesBipolar disorderElectrophysiological propertiesDisease riskHyperpolarization potentialPsychiatric disease riskNeuron developmentOscillatory activityNeuronsHeterogenous cell populationsCell populations
2020
Massively parallel techniques for cataloguing the regulome of the human brain
Townsley KG, Brennand KJ, Huckins LM. Massively parallel techniques for cataloguing the regulome of the human brain. Nature Neuroscience 2020, 23: 1509-1521. PMID: 33199899, PMCID: PMC8018778, DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-00740-1.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsRegulatory elementsTarget genesParallel reporter assaysPutative regulatory elementsNon-coding regionsDisease-associated lociSpecific expression patternsCandidate risk lociPluripotent stem cellsHigh-throughput assaysRelevant molecular pathwaysTranscriptional responseRegulatory architectureRisk lociExpression patternsReporter assaysComplex brain disordersMolecular pathwaysRegulomeStem cellsRisk architectureGenetic riskGenesLociGenetic diagnosisImplicit bias of encoded variables: frameworks for addressing structured bias in EHR-GWAS data.
Dueñas HR, Seah C, Johnson JS, Huckins LM. Implicit bias of encoded variables: frameworks for addressing structured bias in EHR-GWAS data. Human Molecular Genetics 2020, 29: R33-R41. PMID: 32879975, PMCID: PMC7530523, DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa192.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAnalysis of Genetically Regulated Gene Expression Identifies a Prefrontal PTSD Gene, SNRNP35, Specific to Military Cohorts.
Huckins LM, Chatzinakos C, Breen MS, Hartmann J, Klengel T, da Silva Almeida AC, Dobbyn A, Girdhar K, Hoffman GE, Klengel C, Logue MW, Lori A, Maihofer AX, Morrison FG, Nguyen HT, Park Y, Ruderfer D, Sloofman LG, van Rooij SJH, Baker DG, Chen CY, Cox N, Duncan LE, Geyer MA, Glatt SJ, Im HK, Risbrough VB, Smoller JW, Stein DJ, Yehuda R, Liberzon I, Koenen KC, Jovanovic T, Kellis M, Miller MW, Bacanu SA, Nievergelt CM, Buxbaum JD, Sklar P, Ressler KJ, Stahl EA, Daskalakis NP. Analysis of Genetically Regulated Gene Expression Identifies a Prefrontal PTSD Gene, SNRNP35, Specific to Military Cohorts. Cell Reports 2020, 31: 107716. PMID: 32492425, PMCID: PMC7359754, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107716.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
Academic Achievements and Community Involvement
honor Theodore Reich Early Career Award
International AwardInternational Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG)Details09/26/2023United States
Links & Media
Media
News
- December 07, 2023
VA/Yale Researchers Lead Multi-ancestry Study of Genetics of Problematic Alcohol Use
- September 20, 2023
Huckins to Receive 2023 International Society of Psychiatric Genetics Theodore Reich Early Career Award
- February 26, 2023
Addy, Huckins, Petrakis Elected to Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering
- February 23, 2023Source: Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering
Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering Elects 35 New Members in 2023