Join us for the next instalment of the STAGE International Speaker Seminar Series (ISSS) with
Augustine Kong
Professor of Statistical Genetics
Nuffield Department of Medicine
Big Data Institute
University of Oxford
Talk Title:
The Nature of Nurture: Effects of Parental Genotypes
Abstract:
How the human genome (nature) and the environment (nurture) work together to shape members of our species is a fundamental question. In a recent publication (Science, Jan, 2018), we demonstrated that the DNA in the parents, both the halves that were transmitted to the offspring (the proband) and the halves that were not transmitted, can impact the fate of the proband through their effects on the parents’ characteristics/behaviour which in turn affect the nurture received by the proband. We call this phenomenon genetic nurture. Because the DNA in the proband inherited/transmitted from the parents would have both the standard direct genetic effect and the genetic nurturing effect, statistically, to decompose the two effects would require DNA data on the parents in addition to that of the child. Using population-scale data from Iceland collected by deCODE Genetics, it was revealed that genetic nurture plays a substantial role in education-related traits, fertility traits and general health. While the paternal and maternal effects are of similar magnitude for educational attainment, mothers contribute more to general health than fathers. There is suggestive evidence that siblings also contribute to genetic nurture. Recognizing these phenomena can affect the Nature versus Nurture debate, and how we think about many problems in quantitative genetics. This should also affect data-gathering strategies, e.g. more data on families, and the development of new statistical models and methodologies for data analyses.
Speaker Profile:
Dr Kong received his Bachelor degree from Caltech and PhD degree from Harvard University. He became a tenured professor in Statistics at The University of Chicago in 1994. He started working in Iceland in 1996 when deCODE Genetics was founded, leading the Statistics group. In 2017, he joined the Nuffield Department of Medicine and Big Data Institute at University of Oxford as Professor of Statistical Genetics. He is on the list of highly cited researchers (top 1%) tabulated by Thomson and Reuters (now Clarivate Analytics), and in the top 10 among all scientists in 2010. His contributions and research interests include computational algorithms (deterministic and Monte Carlo), statistical methodology, the assembly of the human genome, recombinations, phasing and parent-of-origin determination, de novo germline and somatic mutations, and the selection force on educational attainment related genetic variants. He is an expert in population-scale genetic and health data. He has contributed to the discoveries of genetic variants associated with diseases that include type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction and coronary heart diseases, prostate cancer, lung cancer, Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. One of his recent publications is on the genetic component of nurture (Science 359, 2018). The results have implications for many areas of quantitative genetics including the Nature versus Nurture debate.
Speaker Poster:
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