Genetics of Vulnerability to Antisocial Behavior

描述(由申请人提供)：应聘者正在申请指导科学家发展奖(K01)，以获得在测量和分析神经生理和神经心理特征方面的培训和经验，这些特征可能与反社会行为的脆弱性有关。弗吉尼亚联邦大学多学科弗吉尼亚精神病学和行为遗传学研究所的医学博士肯尼斯·肯德勒将成为她的主要导师。南加州大学的劳拉·贝克博士是该提案的共同发起人之一，她将提供大部分神经生理和神经心理测量方面的场外培训。 对双胞胎和领养研究的研究揭示了遗传和环境因素在反社会行为发展中的重要性。然而，到目前为止，使用具有遗传信息的数据来揭示与反社会行为易感性相关的特定风险因素的努力很少。候选人将利用现有的三项双胞胎研究的数据，探索唤醒、个性、执行功能和冲动在反社会行为发展中的作用，特别关注性别和年龄的影响，反社会行为的异质性，以及潜在的生物风险和环境交互作用。她还将接受关于使用神经生理学和神经心理学特征作为反社会行为的内在表型的理论和实践问题的正式培训。然后，候选人将在弗吉尼亚联邦大学申请的共同发起人之一斯科特·弗拉纳博士的指导下，将这些知识和经验应用于从25对成年男性兄弟姐妹中收集神经生理和神经心理特征以及反社会行为的试点数据。特别令人感兴趣的是在非实验室环境中测量神经生理学和神经心理学特征的可行性。最终，候选人希望将从科学家导师奖中获得的知识和经验应用于一项关于成年双胞胎中反社会行为发展的生物和环境风险因素的大规模研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate is applying for a mentored scientist development (K01) award to gain training and experience in the measurement and analysis of neurophysiological and neuropsychological traits that may be related to vulnerability to antisocial behavior. Kenneth Kendler, M.D., at the multidisciplinary Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University, will be her primary mentor. Laura Baker, Ph.D., at the University of Southern California, is a co-sponsor of the proposal and will provide the majority of the off-site training in the collection of neurophysiological and neuropsychological measures. Research using twin and adoption studies has revealed the importance of both genetic and environmental factors in the development of antisocial behavior. To date, however, efforts to uncover the specific risk factors that are related to vulnerability to antisocial behavior using genetically informative data are rare. Using data from three extant twin studies, the candidate will explore the role of arousal, personality, executive functioning, and impulsivity in the development of antisocial behavior, paying particular attention to the impact of sex and age, the heterogeneity of antisocial behavior, and potential biological risk x environment interactions. She will also receive formal training in both theoretical and practical issues of using neurophysiological and neuropsychological traits as endophenotypes for antisocial behavior. The candidate will then apply this knowledge and experience to the pilot data collection of neurophysiological and neuropsychological traits and antisocial behavior from a sample of 25 adult, male-male sibling pairs, under the guidance of Scott Vrana, Ph.D., a co-sponsor of the application at Virginia Commonwealth University. Of particular interest is the feasibility of measuring neurophysiological and neuropsychological traits in non-laboratory settings. Ultimately, the candidate would like to apply the knowledge and experience gained from the mentored scientist award to a large-scale study of biological and environmental risk factors for the development of antisocial behavior among adult twin pairs.