Computational Medical Genomics

Research

Research in the medical genomics group aims to elucidate how genetic variants predispose individuals to develop neuropsychiatric diseases, particularly Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). This debilitating mental disorder equally affecting children and adolescents is caused by many biological factors and manifests via a wide range of clinical symptoms, which hinders proper diagnosis and treatment. Prof Cai and her research group are interested in developing computational and quantitative methods to interrogate large-scale genomic datasets regarding the risk of developing neuropsychiatric diseases associated with certain genetic variants, either directly or in conjunction with other physiological and environmental factors.

Prof Na Cai

Prof Na Cai is a quantitative geneticist based in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) at ETH Zurich, where she investigates the genetic bases of psychiatric disorders. After obtaining her PhD at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, she moved to the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL-EBI to conduct her postdoctoral research activities. Before moving to the D-BSSE, she was at Helmholtz Munich, where she started her own research group in 2019.

Postdoctoral Researchers

  • Dr Yazheng Di

Open Positions

Publications

2025

2024

 

2023

 

2022

 

2021

Computational Medical Genomics Projects

Prof Na Cai investigates the genetic basis of neuropsychiatric diseases, particularly Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Together with her research group, she develops new computational and quantitative methods to assess the risk of developing MDD based on genetic variation, either directly or in conjunction with physiological and external stimuli.

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