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Jared Balbona

Postdoctoral Associate

Institute for Behavioral Genetics

Institute for Behavioral Genetics
University of Colorado Boulder
447 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0447

Research Interests:

My research primarily focuses on the use and development of within-family approaches to examine sources of complex trait variation. I am interested in the ways in which genetic data can be used to illuminate both the genetic and non-genetic contributions to individuals' physical and neuropsychiatric health.

Mentor:

Matthew Keller

Additional Resources:

Publications

Google scholar

Highlighted publications

Path diagram of Model 1, which models the effects of AM and VT, assuming that the PGS explains the full trait heritability

Estimation of Parental Effects Using Polygenic Scores

In this paper, we introduce a novel approach (SEM-PGS) that incorporates measured genomic data within a structural equation modeling framework in order to disambiguate genetic and environmental sources of trait variation. Specifically, using polygenic scores derived from the transmitted and non-transmitted parental haplotypes, our model is able to provide unbiased estimates of heritability, vertical transmission, and genetic nurture, even when the polygenic scores used only account for a small fraction of trait heritability. By utilizing techniques originally developed for extended twin family designs, our approach allows for a wide variety of extensions, such that old questions about nature and nurture can be addressed in new ways.

(Behavior Genetics, 2021)

News

Jared Balbona, Yongkang Kim, and Matthew Keller won the Fulker award for the best paper published in 2021 in Behavioral Genetics

Aug. 9, 2022

Jared Balbona, Yongkang Kim, and Matthew Keller won the Fulker award for the best paper published in 2021 in Behavioral Genetics. The paper presents a model for using polygenic scores within families to estimate the degree to which parent-offspring similarity is due to direct parental influences versus shared genetics, and...

Jared Balbona wins Carol Lynch award for best paper from an IBG student

Feb. 1, 2022

Jared Balbona won the Carol Lynch award for best publication in 2021 from an IBG graduate student for his paper Estimation of Parental Effects Using Polygenic Scores in Behavior Genetics .

Jared Balbona, IBG graduate student, won the Thompson award at the 2020 BGA conference

Aug. 31, 2020

Jared Balbona won the Thompson award for the best presentation by a student at the 2020 BGA conference. His talk was titled The nature of nurture revisited: Estimating the effect of vertical transmission using structural equation modeling. The paper can be found here .

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