Camelia Minica

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Computational Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard working in the Neale lab.

Proud recipient of an R01 NIH MPI grant to work on Causal statistical modeling using genetic information.

Education:

2012 - 2015 Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,
Thesis title:
Family-Based Genetic Association Analysis: Methods and Applications to Addiction Phenotypes

2009 - 2011 M.Sc. Psychology (Cum Laude)
University of Amsterdam
Major: Statistical Methods
Minor: Psychonomics (Brain & Cognition)

Uncovering the biological bases of psychiatric disorders

I work on discovering new approaches to the diagnosis and pharmacological treatment of psychiatric disorders via large scale whole-genome sequencing analyses.

Understanding the contribution of genetic environments to psychiatric outcomes

My research also focuses on advancing our understanding of the contribution of genetic environments in the risk for psychiatric outcomes.

Focus on causal statistical modeling using genetic information

I am interested in the state of the art methods for testing causality using genetic instruments, with an emphasis on developing means for testing their assumptions. Specifically, my research focuses on integrating Mendelian Randomization with the classical twin design to develop new methods for testing causal hypotheses in observational studies. The approach I am developing is primarily tailored to the wealth of phenotypic and biological data collected at the Twin and Family Registries. These genetically informative samples can be exploited to test causal hypotheses even in the presence of pleiotropic instruments. I am also working on extending this approach to distantly related individuals. These methods will allow us to translate the remarkable GWAS findings into prevention strategies and may suggest rational treatment.

Below are some links to my recent work on Mendelian Randomization:

Abstract of the talk Mendelian Randomization meets the Classical Twin Design presented within the 'Causation' symposium at the Behavior Genetics Association annual meeting in Brisbane, Australia (22 June 2016)
Brief report on the discussion From association to causation I have moderated during the Amsterdam Public Health kick-off meeting (25 November 2016)
Mendelian Randomization quiz accompanying the practicum I co-taught with Dave Evans during the 2017 International Workshop on Statistical Genetic Methods for Human Complex Traits, Boulder, Colorado (10 March 2017)

Previous Research

Researcher working on Prof. Dr. Michael Neale’s project: Psychometric and Genetic Assessments of Substance Use.

Abstract of my Ph.D. Thesis.

Short .ppt presentation of my Ph.D. Thesis.

Genome-wide survival analyses example directory and documentation (included in the archive).

Camelia C. Minica, Conor V. Dolan, Dorret I. Boomsma, Eco de Geus, Michael C. Neale: Extending Causality Tests With Genetic Instruments: An Integration Of Mendelian Randomization And The Classical Twin Design Biorxiv (2017), DOI: 10.1101/134585
Camelia C. Minica, Giulio Genovese, Christina Hultman, Rene Pool, Jacqueline Vink, Michael Neale, Conor Dolan, Benjamin Neale: The Weighting is the Hardest Part: On the Behavior of the Likelihood Ratio Test and the Score Test Under a Data-Driven Weighting Scheme in Sequenced Samples Twin Research and Human Genetics (2017). DOI: 10.1017/thg.2017.7
Camelia C. Minica, Hamdi Mbarek, Rene Pool, Conor V. Dolan, Dorret I. Boomsma*, Jacqueline M. Vink*: Pathways to Smoking Behaviors: Biological Insights from the Tobacco and Genetics Consortium Meta-analysis Molecular Psychiatry (29 March 2016). DOI: 10.1038/mp.2016.20, full-text
Camelia C. Minica: De genetica van rookgedrag onderzocht met openbare dataset Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie, Jaargang 58 (in press 2016).
Camelia C. Minica: Family-Based Genetic Association Analysis: Methods and Applications to Addiction Phenotypes Ph.D. Thesis. (2015) ISBN: 978-94-028-0014-2
Camelia C. Minica, Dorret I. Boomsma, Jacqueline M. Vink, Conor V. Dolan: MZ Twin Pairs or MZ Singletons in Population Family-Based GWAS? More Power in Pairs Molecular Psychiatry (30 September 2014). DOI: 10.1038/mp.2014.121
Camelia C. Minica, Conor V. Dolan, Maarten M.D. Kampert, Dorret I. Boomsma, Jacqueline M. Vink: Sandwich Corrected Standard Errors in Family-Based Genomewide Association Studies European Journal of Human Genetics, 11 June 2014, DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2014.94.
Camelia C. Minica, Conor V. Dolan, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Gonneke Willemsen, Jacqueline M. Vink, Dorret I. Boomsma: The Use of Imputed Sibling Genotypes in Sibship-Based Association Analysis: On Modeling Alternatives, Power and Model Misspecification, Behavior Genetics 43:254-266, 2013, DOI: 10.1007/s10519-013-9590-1.
Camelia C. Minica, Dorret I. Boomsma, Sophie van der Sluis, Conor V. Dolan: Genetic Association in Multivariate Phenotypic Data: Power in Five Models Twin Research and Human Genetics 13(6):523-543, 2010, DOI: 10.1375/twin.13.6.525.
Camelia C. Minica, Conor V. Dolan, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Rene Pool, The Genome of the Netherlands Consortium, Iryna Fedko, Hamdi Mbarek, Charlotte Huppertz, Meike Bartels, Dorret I. Boomsma and Jacqueline M. Vink: Heritability, SNP- And Gene-Based Analyses Of Cannabis Use Initiation And Age At Onset Behavior Genetics, 2015 Sep;45(5):503-13. DOI: 10.1007/s10519-015-9723-9. Epub 2015 May 19,
Sven Stringer*, Camelia C. Minica*, Karin J.H. Verweij*, Hamdi Mbarek, Jaime Derringer, Kristel R. van Eijk, Joshua D. Isen, Anu Loukola, Dominique F. Maciejewski, Evelin Mihailov, Peter J. van der Most, Cristina Sanchez-Mora, Richard Sherva, Raymond Walters, Jennifer J. Ware, Abdel Abdellaoui, Timothy B. Bigdeli, Susan J.T. Branje, Sandra A. Brown, Marcel Bruinenberg, Miguel Casas, Tonu Esko, Iris Garcia-Martinez, Scott D. Gordon, Catharina A. Hartman, Anjali K. Henders, Andrew C. Heath, Ian B. Hickie, Matthew Hickman, Christian J. Hopfer, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Anja C. Huizink, Daniel E. Irons, Rene S. Kahn, Tellervo Korhonen, Henry R. Kranzler, Ken Krauter, Pol A.C. van Lier, Gitta H. Lubke, Pamela A.F. Madden, Reedik Magi, Matt K. McGue, Sarah E. Medland, Wim H.J. Meeus, Michael B. Miller, Grant W. Montgomery, Michel G. Nivard, Ilja M. Nolte, Albertine J. Oldehinkel, Beenish Qaiser, Josep A. Ramos-Quiroga, Vanesa Richarte, Richard J. Rose, Michael C. Stallings, Alex I. Stiby, Tamara L. Wall, Margaret J. Wright, Hans M. Koot, John K. Hewitt, Marta Ribases, Jaakko Kaprio, Marco P. Boks, Harold Snieder, Marcus R. Munafo, Andres Metspalu, Joel Gelernter, Dorret I. Boomsma, William G. Iacono , Nicholas G. Martin, Nathan A. Gillespie*, Eske M. Derks*, Jacqueline M. Vink*: * shared first/last Genome-Wide Association Study of Cannabis Initiation Based on a Large Meta-Analytic Sample of 32,330 Subjects from The International Cannabis Consortium Translational Psychiatry (in press, 2015)
Aysu Okbay, et. al: Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses Nature Genetics 48, 624–633 (2016) DOI: 10.1038/ng.3552.
Jingchun Chen, Silviu-Alin Bacanu, Hui Yu, Zhongming Zhao, Peilin Jia, Kenneth S. Kendler, Henry R. Kranzler, Joel Gelernter, Lindsay Farrer, Camelia Minica, Rene Pool, Yuri Milaneschi, Dorret I. Boomsma, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, Rachel F. Tyndale, Jennifer J. Ware, Jacqueline M. Vink, Jaakko Kaprio, Marcus Munafò, Xiangning Chen, Cotinine meta-analysis group & FTND meta-analysis group: Genetic Relationship between Schizophrenia and Nicotine Dependence Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 25671 (2016) DOI: 10.1038/srep20092.
Jennifer J. Ware, Xiangning Chen, Jacqueline Vink, Anu Loukola, Camelia Minica, Rene Pool, Yuri Milaneschi, Massimo Mangino, Cristina Menni, Jingchun Chen, Roseann E. Peterson, Kirsi Auro, Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen, Juho Wedenoja, Alexander I. Stiby, Gibran Hemani, Gonneke Willemsen, Jouke Jan Hottenga, Tellervo Korhonen, Markku Heliövaara, Markus Perola, Richard J. Rose, Lavinia Paternoster, Nic Timpson, Catherine A. Wassenaar, Andy Z. X. Zhu, George Davey Smith, Olli T. Raitakari, Terho Lehtimäki, Mika Kähönen, Seppo Koskinen, Timothy Spector, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, Veikko Salomaa, Dorret I. Boomsma, Rachel F. Tyndale, Jaakko Kaprio & Marcus R. Munafò: Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Cotinine Levels in Cigarette Smokers Identifies Locus at 4q13.2 Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 20092 (2016) DOI: 10.1038/srep25671.
Michel G. Nivard, Karin J.H. Verweij, Camelia C. Minica, Jorien L. Treur, International Cannabis Consortium, Jacqueline M. Vink*, Dorret I. Boomsma*: Connecting the dots, genome wide association studies in substance use Molecular Psychiatry (in press, 2016)
Jennifer J. Ware, Xiangning Chen, Jacqueline Vink, Anu Loukola, Camelia C. Minica, Rene Pool, Yuri Milaneschi, Massimo Mangino, Cristina Menni, Jingchun Chen, Roseann Peterson, Kirsi Auro, Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen, Juho Wedenoja, Alex I. Stiby, Gibran Hemani, Gonneke Willemsen, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Tellervo Korhonen, Markku Heliövaara, Markus Perola, Richard Rose, Lavinia Paternoster, Nic Timpson, Catherine A. Wassenaar, Andy Z. X. Zhu, George Davey Smith, Olli Raitakari, Terho Lehtimäki, Mika Kähönen, Seppo Koskinen, Timothy Spector, Brenda W. J. H. Penninx, Veikko Salomaa, Dorret I. Boomsma, Rachel F. Tyndale, Jaakko Kaprio, Marcus R. Munafò: Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Cotinine Levels in Cigarette Smokers Identifies Locus at 4q13.2 Scientific Reports, 2015
Xu Q, Wu X, Li M, Huang H, Minica C, Yi Z, Wang G, Shen L, Xing Q, Shi Y, He L, Qin S: Association studies of genomic variants with treatment response to risperidone, clozapine, quetiapine and chlorpromazine in the Chinese Han population Pharmacogenomics J. 2015 Aug 18. DOI: 10.1038/tpj.2015.61
Amy E. Taylor, Meg E. Fluharty, Johan H. Bjørngaard, Maiken Elvestad Gabrielsen, Frank Skorpen, Riccardo E. Marioni, Archie Campbell, Jorgen Engmann, Saira Saeed Mirza, Anu Loukola, Tiina Laatikainen, Timo Partonen, Marika Kaakinen, Francesca Ducci, Alana Cavadino, Lise Lotte N. Husemoen, Tarunveer Singh Ahluwalia, Rikke Kart Jacobsen, Tea Skaaby, Jeanette Frost Ebstrup, Erik Lykke Mortensen, Camelia C. Minica, Jacqueline M. Vink, Gonneke Willemsen, Pedro Marques-Vidal, Caroline E. Dale, Antoinette Amuzu, Lucy T. Lennon, Jari Lahti, Aarno Palotie, Katri Räikkönen, Andrew Wong, Lavinia Paternoster, Angelita Pui-Yee Wong, L. John Horwood, Michael Murphy, Elaine C. Johnstone, Martin A Kennedy, Zdenka Pausova, Tomáš Paus, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Ellen A. Nohr, Diana Kuh, Mika Kivimaki, Johan G. Eriksson, Richard W. Morris, Juan P. Casas, Martin Preisig, Dorret I. Boomsma, Allan Linneberg, Chris Power, Elina Hyppönen, Juha Veijola, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Tellervo Korhonen, Henning Tiemeier, Meena Kumari, David J. Porteous, Caroline Hayward, Pål R. Romundstad, George Davey Smith, Marcus R. Munafò: Investigating the Possible Causal Association of Smoking with Depression and Anxiety Using Mendelian Randomisation Meta-Analysis: the CARTA Consortium British Medical Journal Open, 2014, Oct 7;4(10), DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006141.
Tom G. Richardson, Camelia C. Minica, Jon Heron, Jeremy Tavare, Alasdair MacKenzie, Ian Day, Glyn Lewis, Matthew Hickman, Jacqueline M. Vink, Joel Gelernter, Henry R. Kranzler, Lindsay A Farrer, Marcus Munafò and David Wynick: Evaluating the Role of a Galanin Enhancer Genotype on a Range of Metabolic, Depressive and Addictive Phenotypes American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 2014, DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32270.
Jacqueline M. Vink, Meike Bartels, Toos CEM van Beijsterveldt, Jenny van Dongen, Jenny H.D.A. van Beek, Marijn A. Distel, Marleen H.M. de Moor, Dirk J.A. Smit, Camelia C. Minica, R.S. Lannie Ligthart, Lot M. Geels, Abdel Abdellaoui, Christel M. Middeldorp, Jouke Jan Hottenga, Gonneke Willemsen, Eco J.C. de Geus, Dorret I. Boomsma: Sex Differences in Genetic Architecture of Complex Traits? PLoS ONE 7(12): e47371, 2012, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047371.

Camelia Minica, Ph.D.

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