Next week at the LEAD Retreat (Tübingen):
🎤 keynote on genetics × environment in learning & ADHD
🤸 partner acrobatics workshop
Not a combination I often bring together! But both are about collaboration and balance
📷 Today at my home campus @vuamsterdam.bsky.social
#AcademicLife #NeverGrowOld 1/2
I’ll talk about how genes and environments work together in shaping learning and ADHD, and why these traits run in families.
Many thanks to @koumurayama.bsky.social and #LEADretreat @unituebingen.bsky.social for the invite!
uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/... 2/2
Next week at the LEAD Retreat (Tübingen):
🎤 keynote on genetics × environment in learning & ADHD
🤸 partner acrobatics workshop
Not a combination I often bring together! But both are about collaboration and balance
📷 Today at my home campus @vuamsterdam.bsky.social
#AcademicLife #NeverGrowOld 1/2
We schreven voor Medisch Contact een artikel over polygene embryoselectie 🧬👶🏽
Hierin leggen we uit wat deze technologie wel en niet kan, waarom de voorspellende waarde beperkt is, welke onbedoelde neveneffecten er kunnen zijn, en welke ethische en maatschappelijke vragen dit oproept.
Job ad: Postdoc to work with me & @rogierk.bsky.social at the Donders on lifespan development questions from Sept onward!
Profile: independent, good quant skills, interested in theory-driven work
Please share widely
www.careersatradboudumc.com/vacancies/po...
#Postdoc #AcademicJobs
Figure 2 in the review: Levels of analysis from genes and brain systems to cognition and behaviour. The child both influences and is influenced by parents through genetically shaped interactions, and by the wider school and social environment. Figure design by Neil Usher. Figure from this review paper: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/w23yz_v1
🧩Learning to talk & read isn’t just about effort or teaching—it’s shaped by biology, experience & context
🧠Our new review links genetics, neuroscience, psychology & education to show why some children find language or reading easier.
📖 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🖼️genes→brain→cognition→behaviour 🧵👇
Me & @aysuo.bsky.social are hiring a postdoc to study gene–environment interplay in health & social inequalities 🧬
You'll analyze genomic data as part of a collaboration with Uppsala & Oslo at @amsterdamumc.bsky.social (NL)
werkenbij.amsterdamumc.org/en/vacatures...
Please RT for karma points ♥️
Hey friends, my new paper was just published in JAMA Psychiatry. I draw on biological species classification to sketch a new framework for psychiatric nosology.
Brief summary follows below.
Full text link: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
🧪 #PsychSciSky #MentalHealth
📊 Once we account for parents’ maths skills, most home numeracy environment (HNE) effects fade — but parental skills still predict children’s maths.
🔗 osf.io/9hu3g
🔗 osf.io/9hu3g
Led by Tonje Amland, with @melbylervag.bsky.social
@grandegerman.bsky.social Arne Lervåg, and me, at @unioslo-uv.bsky.social
More on the #FamilialControlMethod: nature.com/articles/s41539-020-00079-z
🧮 Do home maths activities help children learn?
Only partly.
What looks like an “environmental effect” may partly reflect shared family characteristics.
🔗 osf.io/9hu3g
👉 Accounting for familial confounding matters in education research — and is why we developed the Familial Control Method.
We're hiring!
Dutch-speaking student assistant (1–2 days/week) for our TwinWise project on genes, environment & children’s learning and neurodevelopment (Amsterdam).
Are you a student who's interested in science and working with families/schools?
Deadline 15 March werkenbij.vu.nl/vacatures/st...
Working from Stockholm this week!
Speaking at Karolinska Institutet on causal inference in education & ADHD, using family-based & genomic designs.
Grateful to the Psychiatric Epidemiology group for the invitation and warm welcome.
Come say hi if you’re around!
We're hiring!
Dutch-speaking student assistant (1–2 days/week) for our TwinWise project on genes, environment & children’s learning and neurodevelopment (Amsterdam).
Are you a student who's interested in science and working with families/schools?
Deadline 15 March werkenbij.vu.nl/vacatures/st...
DNA or parents’ reading: what predicts #dyslexia risk?
🧬 Polygenic score → 6%
🎓 Each parent’s education → 6%
📚 Parents' reading ability → 21%
PGS are informative, not diagnostic. Family phenotypes predict at least as much as DNA
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
21%: doi.org/10.1080/1088...
Really important point here from Elsje. It is crucial to include information about genetic/familial links when considering causes of disorders but lets not hype them as the ultimate solution.
Tagging co-author @lanniel.bsky.social &
my institutes @geneamsterdam.bsky.social @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social
DNA or parents’ reading: what predicts #dyslexia risk?
🧬 Polygenic score → 6%
🎓 Each parent’s education → 6%
📚 Parents' reading ability → 21%
PGS are informative, not diagnostic. Family phenotypes predict at least as much as DNA
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
21%: doi.org/10.1080/1088...
📢 LEARN! seminar in Amsterdam
Genetics meets environment: twin studies & polygenic scores in learning and neurodiversity.
📅 12 Feb | 📍 VU Amsterdam | 🍷 drinks afterwards
All are very welcome! This marks me starting as Programme Leader Educational Neuroscience at LEARN!
@geneamsterdam.bsky.social
📢 LEARN! seminar in Amsterdam
Genetics meets environment: twin studies & polygenic scores in learning and neurodiversity.
📅 12 Feb | 📍 VU Amsterdam | 🍷 drinks afterwards
All are very welcome! This marks me starting as Programme Leader Educational Neuroscience at LEARN!
@geneamsterdam.bsky.social
Thanks everyone who attended the 4th annual #GENEAmsterdam meeting - we had a great time! Keep an eye out for the website and socials - more details on the day will be posted soon 👀 !
For now, a large thanks to Adrià Túnez Aquilué, Tessa Zonneveld and Aysu Okbay for this years organization.
New paper by PD student Bob Kapteijns (not on bsky) How do reading, math, and various cognitive skills "grow together" in early childhood? 🧠📚
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🎙️Out now: the first episode of the new @essgn.bsky.social podcast by @rafaelahlskog.bsky.social @aysuo.bsky.social, featuring @dr-appie.bsky.social
essgn.podbean.com/e/1-abdel-ab...
🎙️Thanks to @eugeniakis.bsky.social for the thoughtful conversation on her #podcast Psychology Inside Out.
open.spotify.com/episode/6Sxt...
@geneamsterdam.bsky.social @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social
(2/2)
People often ask me what I use to create my plots. I use mostly R, but I have to admit that I cheat a little bit with Adobe Illustrator 🧑🏽🎨
See slide show below for some of my edits 👇🏽
🎙️ #Podcast open.spotify.com/episode/6Sxt...
🧬 genetics shape differences — but are not destiny
🧠 dyslexia & ADHD often co-occur due to shared genes
👨👩👧 families pass on both genes and environments
🎓 better science → fairer education & mental-health support
🧭 also reflects on non-linear academic paths
Bikes in snow deserve their own appreciation 🚲☃️
📍Randwijck, Amstelveen
#Netherlands #snow #cycling #winter #sneeuw #fiets
Lectured in the morning, snow-play with the kids in the afternoon.
📍Amsterdamse Bos
#worklifebalance #academiclife #Netherlands #snow #cycling #winter #fietsen
Unusually white #Amsterdam this week ❄️
Slippery cycling, but incredibly beautiful.
📍Kalfjeslaan
#winter #snow #sneeuw #Netherlands #cycling #fietsen
Snowy start to our Grant Writing & Science Communication course ☃️
Despite slippery roads, students showed up. After class, campus turned into a winter playground. Grown-ups can still play!
Proud of our students. Grateful to teach the next generation of scientists.
🔗 vu.nl/genes
#rmGBH #SciComm
