Two weeks ago, the third edition of the annual Genetics Network Amsterdam meeting took place at the Doelenzaal in Amsterdam. We look back at a great day of department talks, flash talks, networking and keynote session by prof. dr. Dorret Boomsma.
We were welcomed by organizer Nikki Hubers, who gave us an overview of the activities of the network of the past year, and additionally presented the schedule for the day. In the past year, we had 6 research meetings and one symposium on epigenetics. If you are or know someone who would like to present during one of the research meetings in 2025, do not hesitate to reach out to Wonu Akingbuwa or Elleke Tissink!
After the warm welcome, we listened to four department talks by: Emma Pruin (AUMC, psychiatry VUmc), Joëlle Pasman (AUMC psychiatry, AMC), Sean Jurgens (AUMC, Cardiology), and Douglas Wightman (VU, complex trait genetics). In these presentations, we heard about a new GWAS for cannabis use (Joëlle), different GWASs for cardiomyopathy and the (overlap in) genetic mechanisms for these (Sean), rare disease genes associated with brain volume (Doug), but also about using family history, instead of measured genetic markers) to predict depression (Emma).
After a short coffee break, we continued with a set of short, 5-minute flash talks by junior career researchers from different research groups. In this first set of flash talks, we hear from:
- Nathaniel Bell on Exploring the impact of non-additive SNP effects on genetic risk prediction
- Renata Androvicova on Genetic architecture of sexual violence
- Susanne Bruins on Genetic and environmental influences on aggression across the lifespan: a longitudinal twin study
- Marijn Schipper on Identifying addiction genes using FLAMES
- Daniel Alvarez Sirvent on The effect of HLA alleles on becoming a Centenarian
Next, following a lunch break, we continued our afternoon session with a keynote lecture by prof. dr. Dorret Boomsma on The legacy and future of Dutch Twin Research: From Heritability to Personalized Omics. Prof. Boomsma is one of the most outstanding behavior geneticists in the field and founder of the ever-influential Netherlands Twin Register. During her lecture, we heard about the establishment of the twin register, different research lines that she has explored and even some twin studies that were not so successful due to having a response rate of 0%!
This inspiring lecture was a great way of starting our afternoon, and set a nice stage for our second set of department talks by Kahish Kohabir (AUMC, department of Human Genetics), Lianne de Vries (VU, Biological Psychology), and Matthijs de Waal (AUMC, department of Human Genetics). Again, the session was very varied, starting with a talk on CRISPR-Cas12a detection (Kavish), followed by a genetically informative Ecological Momentary Assessment study for wellbeing (Lianne), and ending with a talk on specific SORL1 variants on Alzheimer’s disease.
Before ending with an award ceremony, we listened to a second set of flash talks by junior career researchers:
- Tessa Zonneveld: DNA Cinema
- Sahar Moukadem: Heritability of fertility traits
- Natalia Azcona Granada: Multi-omics of wellbeing
- Alexandra Starr: Investigating causal effects of children’s home learning environment
- Mark Grannetia: Targeting tumor-specific genomic sequences using CRISPR-Kill
After some deliberation by the jurors, we had a festive end of the day with an award ceremony for best department talk by a junior researcher and best flash talk by a junior researcher and drinks. On the department talk side, Sean Jurgens was awarded best talk. For the flash talks, Marijn Schipper took home the prize!
We thank our organizers, Nikki Hubers, Tanya Phung, Gilad Gren, Adrià Túnez Aquilué and Tessa Zonneveld for this great day. Interested in organizing next years event? Let us know!
1) Nikki welcoming us 2) the organization committee, 3) department talk by Sean Jurgens that was awarded best department talk, 4) flash talk by Marijn Schipper that was awarded best flash talk, 5&6) snapshots from the keynote lecture by prof. Boomsma, and 7) the participating members this year