The Veni grant is worth up to 250,000 euros and this year 161 highly promising young scientists received this grant by NWO. The grant provides the laureates with the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas during a period of three years. The study of Jeanne Savage concerns ‘Exploring the heterogeneous genetic origins of alcohol misuse’.
Alcohol misuse is a highly heritable behaviour with enormous global health burden and societal costs, yet the specific genes involved remain elusive to detect. This study aims to improve gene identification by considering the complexity of alcohol misuse and examining the possibility of multiple genetic pathways in its development.
Although alcohol misuse is known to be complex, dynamic, and heterogeneous, most genetic research to date has not treated it as such. This study will investigate how genetic influences differ across symptoms and dimensions of alcohol misuse, and how these influences change across development. Using bioinformatics resources and neuroimaging data, we will map the biological pathways linking genes to behaviour. Exploring genetic heterogeneity has great potential improve our biological understanding of alcohol misuse and provide a starting point for precision medicine applications.