Genomic SEM Provides Insights into the Multivariate Genetic Architecture of Complex Traits, Lecture by Elliott Tucker-Drob, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and the UT Austin Population Research Center

Lecture by Elliott Tucker-Drob, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and the UT Austin Population Research Center. Tucker-Drob leads the Lifespan Development Lab at UT and is co-director of the Texas Twin Project

Title: Genomic SEM Provides Insights into the Multivariate Genetic Architecture of Complex Traits

Time: 3pm-5pm

Venue: Erwin Mill A103

Professor Tucker-Drob’s lecture will introduce his new Genomic SEM methodology and software for analysis of summary statistics from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS).

Genomic SEM opens a range of new opportunities for social and behavioral scientists working to integrate GWAS into their own research programs. Two interesting applications are:

1. Conducting GWAS of latent traits based on analysis of summary statistics from GWAS of correlated phenotypes. Importantly, the GWAS do not need to have been conducted in the same samples. In the paper, Tucker-Drob provides an example of how this can be applied to study a latent factor of psychopathology.
2. Conducting GWAS of residual phenotypes. In this approach, GWAS summary statistics are used to conduct what is effectively a covariate-adjusted GWAS.

You can find the genomic SEM paper here