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INFORMATION FOR

    Renato Polimanti, PhD, MSc

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry
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    Appointments

    Psychiatry
    Primary
    Biomedical Informatics & Data Science
    Secondary

    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

    • Psychiatry

      Associate Professor on Term
      Primary

    • Biomedical Informatics & Data Science

      Associate Professor on Term
      Secondary

    Other Departments & Organizations

    • Biomedical Informatics & Data Science
    • Center for Biomedical Data Science
    • Center for Brain & Mind Health
    • Chronic Disease Epidemiology
    • Computational Biology and Biomedical Informatics
    • Division of Human Genetics
    • Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
    • Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology
    • Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP)
    • Neuroscience Track
    • Polimanti Lab
    • Program in Translational Biomedicine (PTB)
    • Psychiatry
    • Slayman House Affiliates
    • Wu Tsai Institute
    • Yale Center for Genomic Health
    • Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)

    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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