Psychiatric pharmacogenomics

As the lead statistician for the Pharmacogenomics Research Network Antidepressant Medication Pharmacogenomics Study (PGRN-AMPS), Dr. Biernacka directs the analyses of data from several genome-wide association studies of antidepressant response, including the PGRN-AMPS, and the International SSRI Pharmacogenomics Consortium. This ongoing work utilizes several analytical approaches, including a pharmacometabolomics-informed pharmacogenomics approach, where data from metabolomics studies of treatment response are used to select genetic variants for further pharmacogenomics analyses.

The group is also investigating pharmacogenomics effects on more precisely defined treatment outcomes, as well as investigating the role of genetic variation in treatment outcomes through application of statistical methods such as gene set or pathway analysis.