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INFORMATION FOR

Renato Polimanti, PhD, MSc

Associate Professor of Psychiatry
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Additional Titles

Associate Professor on Term, Chronic Disease Epidemiology

About

Titles

Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Associate Professor on Term, Chronic Disease Epidemiology

Biography

Computational biologist with a focus on biological psychiatry, molecular epidemiology, and human evolution.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Postdoctorate
Yale University School of Medicine (2016)
PhD
University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (2013)
MSc
University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (2009)
BSc
University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (2008)

Research

Overview

My research focuses on dissecting the epidemiology and biology of neuropsychiatric disorders, behavioral traits, and other complex phenotypes using molecular, clinical, and imaging data to translate Big Data Analytics into improved healthcare for diverse populations.

Main areas of research include:

Internalizing Disorders. My colleagues and I are investigating the predisposition to internalizing disorders and symptoms, integrating genetic information with multi-omics data, brain imaging phenotypes, and electronic health records. Our findings highlighted how pleiotropic mechanisms contribute to disorders across internalizing spectrum through direct, mediated, and interactive effects.

Mental and Physical Health. My group is developing and applying analytic approaches to investigate comorbidities between mental and physical health using large-scale genome-wide datasets and multi-omics information. Our studies uncovered how the interplay among different genomic features and environmental factors contributes to comorbidity risk, symptoms, and prognosis.

Social Determinants of Health. Leveraging large-scale datasets and genetically informed study designs, my colleagues and I contributed to disentangling dynamics by which social determinants of health contribute to the risk of psychiatric disorders and symptoms. Specifically, our findings highlighted how social determinants of health differentially affected mental health outcomes through direct and indirect effects.

Sex Differences. I am leading multiple studies to understand the biological processes contributing to sex differences in psychiatric disorders and other brain-related outcomes using genomic, clinical, and imaging data. These efforts uncovered how sex-specific mechanisms affecting genomic regulatory mechanisms can differentiate the predisposition to pathological conditions in females and males.

Human Evolution. My collaborators and I are developing and applying multiple analytic approaches to integrate evolutionary biology and human genetics, aiming to uncover genetic signatures of population dynamics across human phenome. Our findings highlighted how local adaptation, purifying selection, introgression from archaic humans, and assortative mating can shape the genetic architecture of complex traits in worldwide populations.

    Medical Research Interests

    Biological Psychiatry; Gene-Environment Interaction; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetic Research; Genetics; Genetics, Behavioral; Genetics, Medical; Genetics, Population; Genome-Wide Association Study; Mendelian Randomization Analysis

    Public Health Interests

    Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics

    Research at a Glance

    Yale Co-Authors

    Frequent collaborators of Renato Polimanti's published research.

    Publications

    Featured Publications

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    Clinical Trials

    Current Trials

    Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

    • activity

      More than 50 international journals, also including top-impact publications such as Biological Psychiatry, Circulation, Genetics in Medicine, Genome Biology, Genome Medicine, Genome Research, Nature Communications, Nature Genetics, Nature Human Behavior, Molecular Psychiatry, Science Advances, and Schizophrenia Bulletin.

      Journal ServiceReviewer
    • activity

      PLOS One

      Journal ServiceAssociate Editor
    • activity

      Israel Science Foundation

      Peer Review Groups and Grant Study SectionsReviewer
    • activity

      Center for Scientific Review

      Peer Review Groups and Grant Study SectionsReviewer
    • activity

      Alzheimer’s Association

      Peer Review Groups and Grant Study SectionsReviewer
    See All Achievements

    Get In Touch

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