# Genetic architecture of transdiagnostic psychosis symptom dimensions

> **NIH NIH K01** · VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $160,170

## Abstract

Project Summary
This K Award will provide formalized training, mentorship, and research experience in psychiatric
nosology, advanced psychometrics, and multi-ancestry statistical genetics methods requisite for
the candidate to achieve her long-term career goal of becoming an independent investigator
capable of leading high-impact studies, securing external funding, and staying apace with the
rapidly evolving nature of modern psychiatric genomics research. Successful completion of this
project will refine our understanding of the genetic architecture of psychosis and enable Dr.
Lapato to integrate dimensional phenotypic approaches with molecular genetics so that she can
lead large-scale analyses required for robust results in genetically diverse cohorts. The
overarching research goal of this proposal is to investigate the genetic architecture of psychosis
as it presents in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar I disorder. The data come
from the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort. Psychosis signs and symptoms were assessed by trained
clinical staff using a semi-structured clinical interview. Under the guidance of her K01 mentorship
team led by Dr. Kenneth Kendler, Dr. Lapato will use exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis
to derive empirical measures of psychosis symptom dimensions. She will conduct genome-wide
association (GWA) testing and derive post-GWA metrics (e.g., SNP heritability, polygenic risk
scores) using both single and multi-ancestry methods. Key demographic, clinical, behavioral, and
environmental variables (including social determinants of health) will be used to validate the
psychosis symptom factors and their polygenic risk scores. Successful completion of this project
will refine our understanding of the genetic architecture of psychosis and equip Dr. Lapato with
the requisite skills to progress on to a successful career in psychiatric genetics research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10764293
- **Project number:** 5K01MH131847-02
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Dana Lapato
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $160,170
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-01-15 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10764293

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10764293, Genetic architecture of transdiagnostic psychosis symptom dimensions (5K01MH131847-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10764293. Licensed CC0.

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