NEUROGENETICS
Silvia Paracchini Research GroupSilvia Paracchini
We are studying the genetic basis of complex cognitive and behavioural phenotypes. In particular we focus on the biology of dyslexia, a specific impairment in learning to read which is caused in large part by genetic factors. We are also interested in cognitive traits related to dyslexia such as general reading and language abilities.
More recently we have become interested in handedness and in a complex link between dyslexia and laterality. We are using large scale screening involving genome-wide and functional genomics approaches to identify candidate genes or loci underlying these phenotypes. In parallel we are developing functional assays to understand the biological mechanisms that mediate genetic differences to phenotypic variation.
Recent news
New preprint!!
See new preprint in bioRxiv led by Judith reporting the first GWAS for hearing threshold and hearing asymmetries in children. See also a summary of the paper in this excellent Twitter thread.
Two new handedness papers
Two new handedness studies are now out. In the first one we examined different handedness measures in the ALSPAC cohort. In the second paper we looked at the prevalence and heritability of handedness in Hong Kong.
New paper: the largest handedness study
Our latest paper is out in Psychological Bulletin and report a collaboration with Marietta Papadatou-Pastou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Sebastian Ocklenburg (Ruhr University Bochum) with key contributions by lab member Judith Schmitz. We...
Work with us: New PhD project
Apply for this fully funded 4 years PhD scholarship to be part of new exciting collaboration between the University of St Andrews and Canon Medical Research Europe. The project The field of genomics has made huge advances for a number of diseases for which large...
ASHG 2019
Filippo attended the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual conference in Houston. Filippo presented his latest results with a poster entitled: ‘GWAS for handedness indexes: support a role of microtubule in brain asymmetries and neurodevelopmental...
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