Ep#019: Uncovering Genetic Risk Factors of Neurological Disorders with Professor Naomi Wray

Personalized Medicine Podcast

The next episode of the Personalized Medicine Podcast is out! In this episode we take a look at the role of genetic factors in the development of neurological disorders. Our host Oleksandr Yagensky sat down with one of the gurus of the field, Prof. Naomi Wray. Naomi holds joint appointments at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) within the University of Queensland. She has published around 300 papers on the intersection of neurobiology, genetics and bioinformatics and contributed greatly to our understanding of genetic causes of schizophrenia, depression and many other neurological disorders.
Together with Naomi, we talk about:
◦ Naomi's motivation to get into the field of psychiatric diseases and genetics
◦ What are polygenic risk scores and how can they be determined?
◦ How can polygenic risk scores be used in the context of psychiatry?
◦ Increasing the utility of polygenic risk scores in clinical settings
◦ Identification of appropriate therapeutic strategy for specific psychiatric conditions based on patient's genetic background
◦ Ethical considerations around communicating genetic predisposition for diseases to patients
◦ Future of neurobiology research
◦ Importance of collaboration in research
◦ Naomi's advice to young scientists starting out their academic career
Get in touch with Naomi:
◦ Twitter: @WrayNaomi
◦ Web (UQ webpage): Naomi Wray
Make sure to download the full show notes with our guest's bio, links to their most notable work, and our recommendations for further reads on the topic of the episode at pmedcast.com