Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory

Institute for Behavioral Genetics

IBG 256
Department of Integrative Physiology
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0447
Phone: 303-735-5158
Fax: 303-492-8063

Research Interests

Our research objectives involve the development and application of advanced statistical and epidemiological methods to advance our understanding of complex disease with a particular emphasis on genetic factors. Three methodological areas broadly define our research objectives:

Large-scale genomic analysis including genome scans and resequence analysis

Epidemiological and statistical characterization of genetic and non-genetic factors

Synthesis of existing genetic information through meta-analysis

Substantively, these three research objectives have been applied to study aging and age-related diseases, metabolic traits and neuropsychiatric disorders. For more information, visit http://ibg.colorado.edu/~mcqueenm.

Personnel

Director: Matthew B. McQueen, Sc.D.

Post-doctoral Fellows: TBA

Graduate Students: Dan Howrigan, M.S., Matt Simonson, B.A.

Undergraduate Students: TBA

IT Manager: Jeff Lessem, Ph.D.

Database Manager: Rose Rahman, M.S.

Web Developer: Andy Gross, M.S.

Collaborators: Al Collins, Robin Corley, Marissa Ehringer, Brett Haberstick, John Hewitt, Tom Johnson, Andy Smolen, Mike Stallings, Susan Young (Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder); Roger Enoka, Moni Fleshner, Chris Lowry (Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder); Ken Krauter (Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder); Matt Keller, Soo Rhee, Erik Willcutt (Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder); Michael Allen, Tom Crowley, Christie Hartman, Christian Hopfer, Susan Mikulich-Gilbertson, Joe Sakai (Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Denver-Anschutz Medical Center); Nan Laird, Christoph Lange (Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health); Deborah Blacker (Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health); Jessica Lasky-Su (Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School); Rudy Tanzi (MGH Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease); Lars Bertram (Max Planck Institute, Berlin, Germany); Shaun Purcell, Pamela Sklar, Jordan Smoller (MGH Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit); Bernie Devlin (Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine); Eric Stice (Oregon Research Institute).

Left to right: Matt McQueen, Matt Simonson, Dan Howrigan, Rose Rahman, Andy Gross, Jeff Lessem.

Current Research Projects

Substance use and HIV risk behavior

Case-control and family-based genome-wide association study (GWAS).
Identifying genetic and non-genetic risk factors.

Smoking Behaviors

Genetic association and deep resequence analysis of nicotinic receptor subunit genes.

Alzheimer's Disease and other neurological diseases

Meta-Analysis of genetic (http://www.alzgene.org) association studies.
Meta-Analysis of non-genetic (http://www.alzrisk.org) risk factors.
Meta-Analysis of genetic association studies of Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Obesity

Effect of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana on body mass index (BMI).
Gene-by-Environment (GxE) interactions for BMI.

Opportunities for Undergraduates

The requirements for undergraduate who want a research experience in human epidemiology, including genetic approaches are:

Either have completed or be currently enrolled in IPHY 2800 (Introductory Statistics)
Have an interest in using epidemiological and statistical tools to study health outcomes
Enroll in Independent Study (i.e. IPHY 4860) for 8-10 hours/week for at least one semester.

Recent Publications

Fan J, Ionita-Laza I, McQueen MB, Purcell S, Devlin B, Purcell S, Faraone SV, Allen MH, Bowden CL, Calabrese JF, Fossey MD, Friedman ES, Gyulai L, Hauswer P, Ketter TB, Marangell LB, Miklowitz DJ, Nierenberg AA, Patel JK, Sachs GS, Thase ME, Molay FB, Escamilla MA, Nimgaonkar VL, Sklar P, Laird NM, Smoller JW. Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping of the Chromosome 6q21-22.31 Bipolar I Disorder Susceptibility Locus. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, March 23, 2009 [Epub ahead of print].

Hoft NR, Corley RP, McQueen MB, Schlaepfer IR, Huizinga D, Ehringer MA. Genetic Association of the CHRNA6 and CHRNB3 Genes with Tobacco Dependence in a Nationally Representative Sample. Neuropsychopharmacology 34:698-706, 2009.

Sklar P, Smoler JW, Fan J, Ferreira MAR, Perlis RH, Chambert RH, Nimgaonkar VL, McQueen MB, Faraone SV, Kirby A, de Bakker PIW, Ogdie MN, Thase ME, Sachs GS, Todd-Brown K, Gabriel SB, Sougnez C, Gates C, Blumenstiel B, Defelice M, Ardlie KG, Franklin J, Muir WJ, McGahee KA, MacIntyre DM, McClean A, Van Beck M, McQillin A, Bass NJ, Robinson M, Lawrence J, Anjorin A, Curtis D, Scolnick EM, Daly MJ, Blackwood DH, Gurling HM, Purcell SM. Whole-Genome Association Study of Bipolar Disorder. Molecular Psychology 13:558-569, 2008.

Allen NC, Bagade S, McQueen MB, Ioannidis JPA, Kavvoura FK, Khoury MJ, Tanzi RE, Bertram L. Systematic Meta-Analyses and Field Synopsis of Genetic Association Studies in Schizophrenia: The SzGene Database. Nature Genetics 40:827-834, 2008.

McQueen MB, Bertram L, Lange C, Becker KD, Albert MS, Tanzi RE, Blacker D. Exploring Candidate Gene Associations With Neuropsychological Performance. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 144:987-991, 2007.

Funding

2008-2012, NIH/NIDA R01, "Genetics of Adolescent Antisocial Drug Dependence (COMRAD)" (PI: Hewitt).
2003-2008, NIH/NIDA Pilot, "Genetics Pilot Project: Genetic Pleiotropy of BMI Genes" (PI: McQueen).
2009-2014, NIH/NIDA P60, "Center on Antisocial Drug Dependence: The Genetics of HIV Risk Behaviors", Core B: Data Management, Informatics and Biostatistics (Boulder PI: McQueen; Denver PI: Mikulich-Gilbertson).
2009-2014, NIH/NIDA P60, "Center on Antisocial Drug Dependence: The Genetics of HIV Risk Behaviors", Component 1: Genetics of Adolescent Antisocial Drug Dependence and HIV-Related Risk Factors (Boulder PI: McQueen; Denver PI: Hopfer).