
The brain is a complex organ, and a new study — believed to be the largest ever on the brain’s genetics — identifies more than 4,000 genetic variants linked to brain structure. The research, involving some 36,000 brain scans, was led by a team at the University of Cambridge in England. Brains are quite varied in terms of overall volume, how the brain is folded and how thick the folds are, according to the researchers. The new work shows that how the brain develops is partly genetic, said study co-author Dr. Varun Warrier, who is with the university’s Autism Research Center. “Our findings can be used to understand how changes in the shape and size of the brain can lead to neurological and psychiatric conditions, potentially leading to better treatment and support for those who need it,” Warrier said in a university news release. For the study, researchers accessed MRI scans from more than 32,000 adults from the UK Biobank cohort and over 4,000 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study in the United States. The investigators measured multiple properties of the outermost layer of the brain, called the cortex. This included measuring the area and volume of the cortex and how it is folded. “One question that has interested us for a while is if the same genes that are linked to… read on > read on >