Genetics & Epigenetics

Microglia CRISPR Screen Linked Schizophrenia Genes to Phagocytosis

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Microglia CRISPR Screen Linked Schizophrenia Genes to Phagocytosis

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Neuropsychopharmacology used CRISPR gene editing in human microglia-like cells and found that several schizophrenia-linked genes changed phagocytosis, cell shape, and immune-transcription programs. Key Findings Schizophrenia-linked microglia genes were testable: The screen focused on 30 genes predicted from postmortem transcriptomic data and microglial biology to affect phagocytosis pathways. CYFIP1, MSR1, TREM2, …

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Cognitive Reserve in First-Episode Psychosis Linked to Genetics and Onset

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Cognitive Reserve in First-Episode Psychosis Linked to Genetics and Onset

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Psychological Medicine found that cognitive reserve in non-affective first-episode psychosis was higher with greater genetic predisposition to educational attainment and lower with earlier psychosis onset or family history of psychosis. Key Findings 174 first-episode patients: Researchers analyzed people with non-affective first-episode psychosis, with a mean age of 25.5 years. Educational-attainment …

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Maternal Health Autism Links Were Partly Genetic in Danish Families

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Maternal Health Autism Links Were Partly Genetic in Danish Families

TL;DR: A 2026 preprint registry-family study in medRxiv found that some maternal diagnosis-autism associations fit shared direct genetic effects, while other diagnoses showed stronger parallel-cousin associations, suggesting indirect genetic effects through the prenatal environment. Key Findings Study type: a three-generation Danish register study comparing full maternal parallel and cross cousin pairs. People studied: 1,131,899 children …

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Childhood ADHD and Autism Predicted Adult Outcomes, But Rare CNVs Did Not Clarify Risk

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Childhood ADHD and Autism Predicted Adult Outcomes, But Rare CNVs Did Not Clarify Risk

TL;DR: A 2026 cohort study in BJPsych Open found that childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) difficulties predicted poorer young-adult outcomes, but rare copy number variants (CNVs), which are deleted or duplicated DNA segments, did not clearly sharpen that prognosis. Key Findings 8,414 young people had CNV data: Researchers analyzed genetic and …

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IQ at Age 23 Predicted Socioeconomic Status at Age 27, With Genes Explaining 69-98% of the Link in TwinLife Germany

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IQ at Age 23 Predicted Socioeconomic Status at Age 27, With Genes Explaining 69-98% of the Link in TwinLife Germany

TL;DR: A 2026 study in Scientific Reports used the German TwinLife panel (228 monozygotic and 212 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs) to show that intelligence quotient (IQ) at age 23 predicted four socioeconomic status (SES) outcomes at age 27, with genetic factors explaining 69-98% of the IQ-SES association. Key Findings IQ at age 23 predicted SES …

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Mendelian Randomization Found Brain Structure Causally Contributed to ADHD and Autism

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Mendelian Randomization Found Brain Structure Causally Contributed to ADHD and Autism

TL;DR: A 2026 Mendelian randomization study in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry used genetic data to test direction of effect between brain structure and neurodevelopmental conditions, and found that increased surface area in the superior frontal gyrus raised ADHD risk while increased surface area in the orbital frontal gyrus protected against autism — with …

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Three Molecular Autism Subtypes Identified With Distinct Phenotypes via Transcriptomic Analysis

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Three Molecular Autism Subtypes Identified With Distinct Phenotypes via Transcriptomic Analysis

TL;DR: A 2026 Communications Biology transcriptomic analysis identified three molecular subtypes of autism spectrum disorder, each linked to a distinct phenotypic profile and biological pathway pattern. Key Findings Three molecular subtypes emerged from transcriptomic analysis: Researchers identified three distinct molecular subtypes of autism spectrum disorder using transcriptomic data, each with its own gene expression signature. …

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Autism Polygenic Scores Predicted Lower Brain Neurite Density in 36,000 People

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Autism Polygenic Scores Predicted Lower Brain Neurite Density in 36,000 People

TL;DR: A 2025 Molecular Psychiatry study of more than 36,000 people found that higher autism polygenic risk was associated with lower MRI-derived neurite density, a measure of neural-fiber packing, across cortex and white matter in both children and adults. Key Findings Higher autism polygenic score predicted lower neurite density: Across over 36,000 individuals, a robust …

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Monocyte Epigenetic Aging Tracked Non-Somatic Depression in Women With and Without HIV

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Monocyte Epigenetic Aging Tracked Non-Somatic Depression in Women With and Without HIV

TL;DR: A 2026 study in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences measured a monocyte-specific DNA methylation clock (MonoDNAmAge) in 440 women with and without HIV, and found that accelerated monocyte epigenetic aging was specifically linked to non-somatic depressive symptoms (anhedonia, hopelessness, cognitive impacts) but not to broader depression severity, supporting …

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Connectome-seq Maps Brain Wiring With RNA Barcodes at Single-Synapse Resolution

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Connectome-seq Turned Synapses Into Barcodes

Connectome-seq Turned Synapses Into Barcodes TL;DR: Connectome-seq is a 2026 Nature Methods platform that maps brain wiring by combining engineered synaptic proteins, RNA barcodes, single-nucleus sequencing, and single-synaptosome sequencing. In a mouse pontocerebellar circuit, the method linked synaptic connections to the molecular identities of connected neurons, turning a wiring map into something sequencing can read. …

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