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Todd Lencz

@toddlencz.bsky.social
983 followers 644 following 40 posts

Genetics, Psychiatry, Polygenic Risk Scores, Embryo Screening... feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-…

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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Structural clusters were enriched for early/prenatal genes; functional endophenotypes are late/adult; dMRI in between Many more biological insights, including novel behavioral and neuropsychiatric correlates in the preprint: tinyurl.com/mpf6r3rk
tinyurl.com
A Pleiotropic Map of Brain Imaging Genetics Reveals Biologically Distinct Latent Endophenotypes
Genomewide association studies (GWAS) of brain scans are complicated by the large number and high collinearity of the available image-derived phenotypes (IDPs). Here, we present DIMPLE-GWAS (Dimension...
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Cluster structure was validated against ABCD cohort data Increased heritability of our clusters (compared to individual image-derived phenotypes) yields greater power for genetic discovery: 413 GWS loci (104 novel)
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Preprint here: tinyurl.com/mpf6r3rk Notably, our genetically-defined clusters do not mirror standard cytoarchitectonic or functional atlases, but capture dorsal/ventral and cortical/subcortical distinctions
tinyurl.com
A Pleiotropic Map of Brain Imaging Genetics Reveals Biologically Distinct Latent Endophenotypes
Genomewide association studies (GWAS) of brain scans are complicated by the large number and high collinearity of the available image-derived phenotypes (IDPs). Here, we present DIMPLE-GWAS (Dimension...
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
New preprint! Introducing DIMPLE-GWAS - a new dimensionality-reduction method to capture latent endophenotypes. Applied to pleiotropic brain imaging data in UK Biobank, we developed a new brain atlas composed of 25 core "clusters" Details below and at my #SOBP talk Sat 3pm
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Collab with @shaicarmi.bsky.social - Paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Client Challenge
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Conclusion: PES is quite distinct from classical PGT-M for high-penetrance variants. However, PGT-M for moderate penetrance variants has recently been adopted by some clinics. This practice is more like PES, necessitating careful consideration of all factors affecting risk.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
3) Through modeling and simulation, we show that PGT-M for a moderate penetrance variant would select the "wrong" (i.e., higher risk) embryo ~5% of the time (given at least 1 carrier and 1non-carrier embryo, both female). IOW, the non-carrier embryo is at higher risk due to PRS.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
2) By contrast, carriers of moderate penetrance (OR~2) risk variants for breast cancer (ATM, CHEK2, BARD1, RAD51C/D) demonstrated risk profiles overlapping non-carriers with PRS ~1.5SD higher (black dotted line).
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
1) Carriers of BRCA1 had risk distributions that were disjoint from non-carriers, regardless of polygenic risk scores (red dashed line in Figure above). Similar results were observed for BRCA2 and PALB2 carriers (blue dashed line).
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
New Year, New Paper! #PolygenicEmbryoScreening We examined the interaction of rare and common variation for breast cancer in the context of PES, with three key findings detailed in posts below...
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Katherine Jonas PhD LP @kgjonas.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Check out the paper for demonstrations of this effect in simulations and three datasets. We need to understand how PGS perform in clinical settings if they are ever to be useful as predictive markers, which is what we are trying to accomplish with the FEP-GEN consortium. 5/6
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Are one or more of the polygenic embryo screening companies currently active/visible in South Korea?
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Rémy Furrer @remyfurrer.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Polygenic embryo screening is being marketed commercially – but how do IVF clinicians view it? • General approval is low (12%) For specific uses: • 59% approved of health-related embryo selection • 6% approved of trait-based selection 🧵 Survey findings in NPJ Genomic Medicine
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
See my pinned tweet for more details
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Greetings #WCPG2025 from Cancun! If you’re at the meeting and looking for a postdoctoral or research scientist position, come find me at poster M66 tonight!
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Please see our new work, led by @shaicarmi.bsky.social - in addition to a free online risk calculator, we demonstrate (for the first time), the degree to which real-world live birth rates attenuate the potential risk reduction in polygenic embryo screening (PES)
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Given that we are unlikely to scale much beyond this enormous dataset anytime soon, this appears to be quite a negative result…
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A.S.H. @alexanderhatoum.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
We lay out three consensuses from the field of psychiatric genetics that should be considered before approving genetic tests for psychiatric disorders. The letter was signed by 140 experts in psychiatric genetics and published in Lancet Psychiatry. Now on Pubmed: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Concerns About Genetic Risk Testing for Opioid Use Disorder
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Congratulations, Sunny—All the more impressive given the current environment. Your work is truly at the cutting edge!
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
This looks fascinating - I can’t wait to read it in detail. I am wondering if your approach resembles something we tried on a much smaller scale a few years ago: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32956347/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Leveraging correlations between variants in polygenic risk scores to detect heterogeneity in GWAS cohorts - PubMed
Evidence from both GWAS and clinical observation has suggested that certain psychiatric, metabolic, and autoimmune diseases are heterogeneous, comprising multiple subtypes with distinct genomic etiolo...
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Need to double-check but I think it could be design / MAF cut-offs for each type of study
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
More details at the link: t.co/ThiWw7QdkU
t.co
https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(25)00989-8/fulltext
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Concordant SNPs (low cognition / increased SZ risk) were associated with early neurodevelopmental (prenatal) forebrain abnormalities. Discordant SNPs (high cognition / increased SZ risk) associated with adult synaptic function and hindbrain (cerebellar) development. (2/3)
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
New publication! We expand on our prior work demonstrating that pleiotropic effects of cognitive GWAS can provide biological insights into schizophrenia GWAS results. We differentiated "concordant" from "discordant" subsets of schizophrenia risk SNPs (1/3)
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
💯 always take the reader by the hand and walk them through slowly paragraph by paragraph
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
A very thoughtful and comprehensive piece on polygenic embryo screening in today's NY Times: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I.V.F., Gene Selection and Embryo Screening: Is This the Future of Making Babies? (Gift Article)
Advances in genetic testing and artificial intelligence are changing what’s possible for those undergoing I.V.F. Are we ready for the future of fertility?
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Re-upping for the early crowd - link in reply
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
We identified 113 Bonferroni-corrected putatively causal associations (46 novel) involving 91 proteins, providing support for repurposing of anti-inflammatory agents for SCZ, amantadine for BD, retinoic acid for MDD, and duloxetine for CTP. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com
Circulating Blood-Based Proteins in Psychopathology and Cognition
This mendelian randomization study identifies circulating proteins associated with risk for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and cognitive task performance.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
New Paper! Online now in JAMA Psychiatry, we have performed a large-scale Mendelian Randomization study of circulating proteins in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and cognitive task performance.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
But then you run right into DISC1
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
We have a position open in my lab. Please see my pinned post!
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
I'm hiring a postdoc and/or bioinformatician in psychiatric genomics and related fields acnp.org/wp-content/u...
acnp.org
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International Society of Psychiatric Genetics @ispg.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Unsure how recent changes in U.S. policy regarding the NIH will impact the psychiatric genetics world? You're not alone. Join ISPG for a Member’s Meetup for community discussion and support: 📅 Wednesday, January 29 🕗 3 PM EST 📍 Pre-Register: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
For me, the simplicity and ease of both upload and download are the best parts or bioRxiv and medRxiv. (Bravo, Richard!) If anything, I notice that the site sometimes hangs despite the simplicity of the interface, suggesting that the network is already loaded to capacity.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
I’m recruiting for a postdoc position in psychiatric genetics Come talk to me at poster M160! acnp.org/wp-content/u...
acnp.org
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
On my way to #ACNP2024 🌵 Now recruiting for a #postdoc position in psychiatric genetics: t.co/Stst3V9agM If you are interested in the genetics of psychotic disorders and their endophenotypes, check out my poster M160 on Monday!
t.co
https://acnp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Postdoc_listing-_Lencz_polygenic.pdf
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Leah Mayo @mayoonthebrain.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Guess who's joining the party over here?? 🎉🦋 @npp-journal.bsky.social @dpn-journal.bsky.social & @acnporg.bsky.social Be sure to follow☝️ahead of #ACNP2024
media.tenor.com
a man in a sweater is standing in front of a door with christmas wreaths on it .
ALT: a man in a sweater is standing in front of a door with christmas wreaths on it .
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
very cool! cc: @kgjonas.bsky.social
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
combined with similar results recently published in the context of polygenic embryo screening, this suggests the need for clear reporting standards for PRS implementation www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Inconsistent embryo selection across polygenic score methods - Nature Human Behaviour
Private enterprises offer preimplantation genetic testing with polygenic scores to select embryos with ‘desirable’ potential. In silico simulations using biobank resources show that the selected embry...
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
I think this JAMA article from last week received insufficient attention - different computations of PRS for the same disease, despite nearly identical population performance, resulted in very different classifications at the individual level #polygenicriskscores jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com
Evaluating Performance and Agreement of Coronary Heart Disease Polygenic Risk Scores
This study aims to characterize the individual-level agreement of polygenic risk scores for coronary heart disease that perform similarly at the population level.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
NOW HIRING #postdocjobs NIH funding for a #postdoc with interest in complex genetics / computation / analysis #GWAS #rarevariants #polygenicriskscores in multiple research contexts: psychiatric genomics; cognitive genomics; embryo screening... acnp.org/wp-content/u...
acnp.org
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
More importantly, I think the process of writing grants is valuable for my scientific thought process, and improves my resulting science. I also think that 12 pages is a reasonable length - as a reviewer, I find myself revising & updating my opinions frequently as I read more pages.
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
I used to think this way, but I now tend to agree with a poster on X that suggests caution in making change, for fear of unintended consequences. If a partial lottery were implemented, reviewer scoring behavior would change, and we would lose the oversight and judgement of Program.
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Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Just added the 106th amazing statistical/psychiatric geneticist! Even if you have seen this starter pack before have a look, find the new people filtering in!
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Jehannine (J9) Austin @j9austin.bsky.social · 19/10/2024
Ok friends! I made a starter pack of psychiatric genetics people! Please let me know if you want to be added and share widely on other platforms to get our community here go.bsky.app/SkkmtMG
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 17/10/2024
A statement on the need for scientific rigor in the development of genetic tests, endorsed by @ISPGnet and signed by 140 experts in the field: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Concerns about genetic risk testing for opioid use disorder
In 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first genetic test for predicting risk of developing a susbstance use disorder.1 The test, which is based on a set of 15 genetic variants, was...
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Todd Lencz @toddlencz.bsky.social · 20/09/2024
Very cool, thanks. Maybe I should check in here more frequently.
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