Dan Benjamin, Univ. of S. California

TITLE: A GWAS Perspective on Social-Science Genomics
Abstract: In the past few years, the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (SSGAC) has been conducting large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses of behavioral phenotypes, including educational attainment, subjective well-being (i.e., happiness), and fertility. The results of these projects have confirmed that behavioral phenotypes are more polygenic than even highly polygenic anthropometric and medical phenotypes, such as height and body mass index (BMI). The results have also enabled constructing polygenic scores that can be useful in social-science research, including studies of gene-environment interactions. This talk will provide some background on the SSGAC, review some of the key findings to date, and discuss ongoing work-in-progress.
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