Leonard Frach
@leofrach.bsky.social
Postdoc in psychiatric genetics and clinical psychologist at University Hospital Bonn | PhD @ucl.ac.uk | Within-family analyses, statistical genetics, polygenic scores, behaviour genetics, epigenetics | he/him
Pinned
Leonard Frach
@leofrach.bsky.social
· Jul 24
🔔Paper alert! Extremely excited to share a preprint from our lab! Spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, a super talented medical & computational geneticist, we studied latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection at population-scale.
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Host control of latent Epstein-Barr virus infection https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.19.25331823v1
Very exciting preprint by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, @kuludwig.bsky.social and team!
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Reposted by Leonard Frach
1/ 🚨New paper in Nature Genetics
Genetic factors are associated with the educational fields people study, from arts to engineering.
Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
FAQ: www.thehastingscenter.org/genomic-find...
Genetic factors are associated with the educational fields people study, from arts to engineering.
Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
FAQ: www.thehastingscenter.org/genomic-find...
Genetic associations with educational fields - Nature Genetics
Genome-wide analyses of 10 educational fields identify 17 associated loci. Analysis of genetic clustering across specializations identifies two key dimensions that show genetic overlap with personalit...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:23 AM
1/ 🚨New paper in Nature Genetics
Genetic factors are associated with the educational fields people study, from arts to engineering.
Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
FAQ: www.thehastingscenter.org/genomic-find...
Genetic factors are associated with the educational fields people study, from arts to engineering.
Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
FAQ: www.thehastingscenter.org/genomic-find...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
We currently have multiple job openings (post-doc/assistant prof/associate prof) listed on our website, see thread below if you don't want to miss out!
bga.org/content.aspx...
bga.org/content.aspx...
BGA Job Listings - Behavior Genetics Association
bga.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
We currently have multiple job openings (post-doc/assistant prof/associate prof) listed on our website, see thread below if you don't want to miss out!
bga.org/content.aspx...
bga.org/content.aspx...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
We have an open postdoc position in Social Science Genomics in Berlin!
Includes gene-environment interplay within German population cohorts & experimental online survey studies to probe public perceptions of potential DNA biomarker applications
🔗 www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/2196134/2025...
Includes gene-environment interplay within German population cohorts & experimental online survey studies to probe public perceptions of potential DNA biomarker applications
🔗 www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/2196134/2025...
Postdoctoral Position in Social Science Genomics | Max Planck Research Group Biosocial
www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de
October 28, 2025 at 2:22 PM
We have an open postdoc position in Social Science Genomics in Berlin!
Includes gene-environment interplay within German population cohorts & experimental online survey studies to probe public perceptions of potential DNA biomarker applications
🔗 www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/2196134/2025...
Includes gene-environment interplay within German population cohorts & experimental online survey studies to probe public perceptions of potential DNA biomarker applications
🔗 www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/2196134/2025...
Looking for an *amazing* postdoc supervisor? 👀
Excellent opportunity with the one and only @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social
Excellent opportunity with the one and only @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social
I'm hiring! ✨ Looking for a Research Fellow to study environmental factors that mitigate intergenerational transmission of mental health.
3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!
🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...
3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!
🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...
Research Fellow in Mental Health at UCL
Apply for the Research Fellow in Mental Health role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
www.jobs.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Looking for an *amazing* postdoc supervisor? 👀
Excellent opportunity with the one and only @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social
Excellent opportunity with the one and only @jessiebaldwin.bsky.social
Reposted by Leonard Frach
I'm hiring! ✨ Looking for a Research Fellow to study environmental factors that mitigate intergenerational transmission of mental health.
3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!
🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...
3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!
🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...
Research Fellow in Mental Health at UCL
Apply for the Research Fellow in Mental Health role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
www.jobs.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I'm hiring! ✨ Looking for a Research Fellow to study environmental factors that mitigate intergenerational transmission of mental health.
3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!
🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...
3-year post at UCL @uclbrainscience.bsky.social with great opportunities for training, collaboration & exciting science!
🔗 Apply: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOZ633/r...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
New paper out at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science!
We examined unconditional & event-related changes in pathological vs normal-range personality using 4 metrics to compare their developmental links, how these vary with life events, and whether unique effects emerge across metrics
We examined unconditional & event-related changes in pathological vs normal-range personality using 4 metrics to compare their developmental links, how these vary with life events, and whether unique effects emerge across metrics
September 5, 2025 at 4:05 PM
New paper out at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science!
We examined unconditional & event-related changes in pathological vs normal-range personality using 4 metrics to compare their developmental links, how these vary with life events, and whether unique effects emerge across metrics
We examined unconditional & event-related changes in pathological vs normal-range personality using 4 metrics to compare their developmental links, how these vary with life events, and whether unique effects emerge across metrics
Reposted by Leonard Frach
I'm looking for a PhD student to do some trailblazing at the frontier of personality genomics and lifespan gene-environment transactions (start Fall 2026)! If you want to work with me: psychology.msu.edu/graduatestud...
(PS @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social is taking a student too, in moral psych/dev!)
(PS @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social is taking a student too, in moral psych/dev!)
September 2, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I'm looking for a PhD student to do some trailblazing at the frontier of personality genomics and lifespan gene-environment transactions (start Fall 2026)! If you want to work with me: psychology.msu.edu/graduatestud...
(PS @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social is taking a student too, in moral psych/dev!)
(PS @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social is taking a student too, in moral psych/dev!)
Reposted by Leonard Frach
BIG PREPRINT🔬
In a newly founded consortium we show that we barely know anything about the neurobiology underlying emotion regulation capacity! (40 fmri samples, N=2175)
So, time-out for prefrontal cortex explanations!
And we also show why this might be the case 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In a newly founded consortium we show that we barely know anything about the neurobiology underlying emotion regulation capacity! (40 fmri samples, N=2175)
So, time-out for prefrontal cortex explanations!
And we also show why this might be the case 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The elusive neural signature of emotion regulation capabilities: evidence from a large-scale consortium
Cognitive reappraisal is a fundamental emotion regulation strategy for mental and physical well-being, but how its neural mechanisms relate to individual differences remains poorly understood. In a co...
www.biorxiv.org
August 19, 2025 at 11:43 AM
BIG PREPRINT🔬
In a newly founded consortium we show that we barely know anything about the neurobiology underlying emotion regulation capacity! (40 fmri samples, N=2175)
So, time-out for prefrontal cortex explanations!
And we also show why this might be the case 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In a newly founded consortium we show that we barely know anything about the neurobiology underlying emotion regulation capacity! (40 fmri samples, N=2175)
So, time-out for prefrontal cortex explanations!
And we also show why this might be the case 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
An updated preprint of our Borderline Personality Disorder GWAS is now online:
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Genome-wide association study of borderline personality disorder identifies 11 loci and highlights shared risk with mental and somatic disorders
We conducted the largest genome-wide meta-analysis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) to date, with a discovery sample of 12,339 cases and 1,041,717 controls, and a replication study of 685 case...
www.medrxiv.org
August 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
An updated preprint of our Borderline Personality Disorder GWAS is now online:
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
🚨 Our parent-of-origin study is out in Nature! 🧬
Maternal and paternal alleles can have distinct — even opposite — effects on human traits, revealing a hidden layer of genetic architecture that standard GWAS miss.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Highlights below!
Maternal and paternal alleles can have distinct — even opposite — effects on human traits, revealing a hidden layer of genetic architecture that standard GWAS miss.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Highlights below!
August 6, 2025 at 6:27 PM
🚨 Our parent-of-origin study is out in Nature! 🧬
Maternal and paternal alleles can have distinct — even opposite — effects on human traits, revealing a hidden layer of genetic architecture that standard GWAS miss.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Highlights below!
Maternal and paternal alleles can have distinct — even opposite — effects on human traits, revealing a hidden layer of genetic architecture that standard GWAS miss.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Highlights below!
Reposted by Leonard Frach
New pre-print online: Imputing parental genotypes through Mendelian Imputation: Ethical and Legal Considerations
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
August 1, 2025 at 12:53 PM
New pre-print online: Imputing parental genotypes through Mendelian Imputation: Ethical and Legal Considerations
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
Very exciting preprint by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, @kuludwig.bsky.social and team!
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
🔔Paper alert! Extremely excited to share a preprint from our lab! Spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, a super talented medical & computational geneticist, we studied latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection at population-scale.
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Host control of latent Epstein-Barr virus infection https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.19.25331823v1
July 24, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Very exciting preprint by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, @kuludwig.bsky.social and team!
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Very exciting preprint by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, @kuludwig.bsky.social and team!
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
🔔Paper alert! Extremely excited to share a preprint from our lab! Spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, a super talented medical & computational geneticist, we studied latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection at population-scale.
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Host control of latent Epstein-Barr virus infection https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.19.25331823v1
July 24, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Very exciting preprint by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, @kuludwig.bsky.social and team!
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Check out Kerstin's thread for overview
Reposted by Leonard Frach
New preprint by Xiaopu Zhang!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@jordanatbell.bsky.social @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@jordanatbell.bsky.social @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social
Genetic impacts on within-pair DNA methylation variance in monozygotic twins capture gene-environment interactions and cell-type effects
Background Genetic variants that are associated with phenotypic variability, or variance quantitative trait loci (vQTLs), have been detected for multiple human traits. Gene-environment interactions ca...
www.biorxiv.org
July 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
New preprint by Xiaopu Zhang!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@jordanatbell.bsky.social @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@jordanatbell.bsky.social @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social
Reposted by Leonard Frach
🔔Paper alert! Extremely excited to share a preprint from our lab! Spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, a super talented medical & computational geneticist, we studied latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection at population-scale.
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Host control of latent Epstein-Barr virus infection https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.19.25331823v1
July 22, 2025 at 4:10 PM
🔔Paper alert! Extremely excited to share a preprint from our lab! Spearheaded by @axel-schmidt.bsky.social, a super talented medical & computational geneticist, we studied latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection at population-scale.
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Interested in how this works & what we found? Read along! 👇
Reposted by Leonard Frach
Our project, looking at the genetic relationships between immune diseases and psychiatric disorders, has finally been published! Now with gene expression analyses as well as additional sensitivity analyses, thanks to reviewers. Find the full article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 21, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Our project, looking at the genetic relationships between immune diseases and psychiatric disorders, has finally been published! Now with gene expression analyses as well as additional sensitivity analyses, thanks to reviewers. Find the full article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
PhD position in my group at @fau.de, as part of my @erc.europa.eu Consolidator project PAR2. German is not essential but an interest in social science genetics would be great! Sharing would be much appreciated ❤️
www.jobs.fau.de/jobs/phd-pos...
www.jobs.fau.de/jobs/phd-pos...
PHD Position at the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology (m/f/d)
www.jobs.fau.de
July 10, 2025 at 9:47 AM
PhD position in my group at @fau.de, as part of my @erc.europa.eu Consolidator project PAR2. German is not essential but an interest in social science genetics would be great! Sharing would be much appreciated ❤️
www.jobs.fau.de/jobs/phd-pos...
www.jobs.fau.de/jobs/phd-pos...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
🚨New preprint is out!
How do genetic effects on complex traits change with age? In this work, we compare different approaches to obtain age-varying genetic effects, and show how design and modeling choices can impact the conclusions we draw.
shorturl.at/17snd
A thread 🧵👇
How do genetic effects on complex traits change with age? In this work, we compare different approaches to obtain age-varying genetic effects, and show how design and modeling choices can impact the conclusions we draw.
shorturl.at/17snd
A thread 🧵👇
Design and model choices shape inference of age-varying genetic effects on complex traits
Understanding how genetic influences on complex traits change with age is a fundamental question in genetic epidemiology. Both cross-sectional (between-subject) and longitudinal (within-subject) appro...
shorturl.at
July 8, 2025 at 12:47 PM
🚨New preprint is out!
How do genetic effects on complex traits change with age? In this work, we compare different approaches to obtain age-varying genetic effects, and show how design and modeling choices can impact the conclusions we draw.
shorturl.at/17snd
A thread 🧵👇
How do genetic effects on complex traits change with age? In this work, we compare different approaches to obtain age-varying genetic effects, and show how design and modeling choices can impact the conclusions we draw.
shorturl.at/17snd
A thread 🧵👇
Reposted by Leonard Frach
Our paper, MR-link-2 has just been published! Offering pleiotropy robust Mendelian randomization from a single region! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 4, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Our paper, MR-link-2 has just been published! Offering pleiotropy robust Mendelian randomization from a single region! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Leonard Frach
New preprint!🚨
"“The Contribution of Common and Rare Genetic Variation to Emotional and Behavioural Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence” is out on medRxiv.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thread 👇
"“The Contribution of Common and Rare Genetic Variation to Emotional and Behavioural Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence” is out on medRxiv.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thread 👇
The Contribution of Common and Rare Genetic Variation to Emotional and Behavioural Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence
Genetic factors influence vulnerability to common mental health conditions, but their role in early-life mental health remains understudied. We analysed genotype array and exome sequence data from two...
www.medrxiv.org
July 3, 2025 at 8:23 AM
New preprint!🚨
"“The Contribution of Common and Rare Genetic Variation to Emotional and Behavioural Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence” is out on medRxiv.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thread 👇
"“The Contribution of Common and Rare Genetic Variation to Emotional and Behavioural Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence” is out on medRxiv.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thread 👇
Reposted by Leonard Frach
While the world watches Israel's war with Iran, Netanyahu's extremist government continues to starve and massacre Palestinians in Gaza.
Today, Israeli forces again opened fire on people desperately trying to collect food aid, killing dozens. Over 56,000 have been killed so far.
Today, Israeli forces again opened fire on people desperately trying to collect food aid, killing dozens. Over 56,000 have been killed so far.
BREAKING: Palestinian witnesses and hospitals say Israeli forces opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people.
Israeli forces fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza, killing 25, witnesses and hospitals say
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza.
bit.ly
June 24, 2025 at 4:41 PM
While the world watches Israel's war with Iran, Netanyahu's extremist government continues to starve and massacre Palestinians in Gaza.
Today, Israeli forces again opened fire on people desperately trying to collect food aid, killing dozens. Over 56,000 have been killed so far.
Today, Israeli forces again opened fire on people desperately trying to collect food aid, killing dozens. Over 56,000 have been killed so far.
Reposted by Leonard Frach
Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Mental Health and Wellbeing Traits on Offspring Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.17.25329751v1
June 18, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Mental Health and Wellbeing Traits on Offspring Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.17.25329751v1
Reposted by Leonard Frach
Looking for your next research position? We're recruiting two genetic epidemiologists to work on two projects at the Division of Psychiatry at UCL, part of the growing UCL Human Genomics group.
June 18, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Looking for your next research position? We're recruiting two genetic epidemiologists to work on two projects at the Division of Psychiatry at UCL, part of the growing UCL Human Genomics group.
Reposted by Leonard Frach
Thanks @eivindy.bsky.social! My first foray into the mysterious world of #SelectionBias. Very happy to receive feedback, and to discuss opportunities for improving/expanding this work!
🧵 THREAD: Preprint from @chrisrayner.bsky.social reveals how to fix selection bias in the Norwegian #MoBa study using population-wide registry data! For the first time, we can quantify and adjust for selection bias in this major epidemiological resource.
Spread the good news!
osf.io/preprints/os...
Spread the good news!
osf.io/preprints/os...
OSF
osf.io
June 16, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Thanks @eivindy.bsky.social! My first foray into the mysterious world of #SelectionBias. Very happy to receive feedback, and to discuss opportunities for improving/expanding this work!