Roseann E. Peterson, PhD

Dr. Peterson is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University and is the Director of Training in Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity in the Office of the Senior Vice President of Research. She leads a program of research focused on delineating causal processes—genetic and environmental—underlying major psychiatric disorders with a focus on depression and comorbid traits. Dr. Peterson holds expertise in polygenic risk score profiling methodology, cross-ancestry and cross-cultural studies, and clinical and genetic associations between complex traits.

ACTIVE

R01MH125938 (Peterson)                             12/15/2021 - 10/31/2026

NIMH                                                             

Cross-Population Working Group on Genes and Environment in Major Depression (POP-GEM): Advancing the Understanding of Etiology through Diversity.

This proposal supports the formation of the Cross-Population Working Group on Genes and Environment in Major Depression (POP-GEM) with the goal of characterizing genomic variants associated with major depression across populations facilitating fine-mapping of causal variants, improved polygenic risk profiling for all, modeling the interplay of genetic and environmental risk, examination of sex differences, and assessing direction of causation between major comorbid traits and disorders.

Role: Principal Investigator

 

NARSAD Grant 28632 P&S Fund (Peterson) 01/15/2020 - 01/14/2023       

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant

From Liability to Causality: Leveraging whole-genome approaches to elucidate major depression etiology.

Research aims to leverage established and emerging whole-genome approaches, as well as cutting-edge bioinformatic and statistical techniques such as data-mining and machine learning methods, in order to better understand causal mechanisms for major depression and comorbid traits.

Role: Principal Investigator

 

2P50AA022537-06  (Miles)                           06/01/2020-05/31/2025          

NIAAA                                                                                               

Cross-species investigation of gene networks for ethanol-related behaviors: Project 5 - Genetic architecture of alcohol use disorder using cross-trait genetic correlations and public next-generation sequencing studies. 

Defining genes and gene networks associated with abusive alcohol use can lead to better understanding of the disease and potentially provide new diagnostics or treatments. The VCU Alcohol Research Center provides a novel and highly significant cross-species genetic, behavioral, and genomic approach that promises to contribute broadly to the alcohol research field and public health.

Role: Co-Investigator

 

R21MH126358 (Webb)                                  04/01/2021-03/31/2023          

NIMH                                                                                     

Adapting machine learning methods to detect genetic loci specific to strictly defined MDD.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is common psychiatric disorder, a leading cause of disability worldwide, and partially influenced by genetics. Rigorous clinical assessments are generally needed for studies to distinguish between genetic loci influencing mild versus debilitating manifestations of the disorder. We propose to evaluate and adapt machine learning methods to estimate risk to strictly defined MDD in large-scale biobanks samples that measure many variables but may not contain rigorous clinical assessments and use these predictions to discover additional genetic variation specifically influencing MDD.

Role: Co-Investigator

 

U01MH126798 (MPI Flint, Ha, Kendler)      08/17/2021-06/30/2026                       

University of California, Los Angeles/NIH
Identifying the genetic causes of depression in a deeply phenotyped population from South Korea.

This project will collect samples from 10,000 South Korean women with recurrent major depressive disorder and 10,000 matched controls. All subjects will be genotyped and the location of genetic risk factors identified in a genome-wide association analysis. The cohort will also provide detailed information about the likely environmental causes of depression, and when combined with a similarly deeply phenotyped cohort from China, will form a uniquely powerful resource for the discovery of genes involved in recurrent major depressive disorder. Role: Co-Investigator