Duncan NRI Elizabeth Atkinson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor - Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
Investigator - Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital
Contact Information
Email: elizabeth.atkinson@bcm.edu
Get to know Elizabeth Atkinson, Ph.D.
Research focus
The Atkinson Lab develops statistical genomics methods that account for the full range of human population structure and genetic variation.
The Atkinson Lab develops statistical genetics methods that account for global variation in human genetic architecture. We use population-representative genomic datasets and advanced computational techniques to improve the study of complex traits across a range of ancestral backgrounds. Much of our work focuses on neuropsychiatric traits, with particular emphasis on admixed American populations. The tools we build are broadly applicable across phenotypes and cohorts, supporting more accurate and generalizable findings in human health research.
A foundational aspect of our research involves characterizing human population history and evolution, which shape the distribution of genetic variation. We use ancestrally informative evolutionary statistics and global DNA collections to study these processes, particularly in genes relevant to brain function. This work informs the development of appropriate methods for statistical and medical genomic analyses across diverse population structures.
Our lab also plays a leadership role in multiple international consortia, including the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PTSD working group), Neuropsychiatric Genetics in African Populations (NeuroGAP), and the Latin American Genomics Consortium (LAGC). These collaborations support the development of globally representative resources for gene discovery and offer trainees valuable experience working with large-scale, richly phenotyped cohorts.
The Atkinson lab is based in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and is affiliated with the Computational and Integrative Biomedical Research Center and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute.
Atkinson EG, Artomov M, Karczewski KJ, Loboda AA, Rehm HL, MacArthur DG, Neale BM, Daly MJ. (2023). Discordant calls across genotype discovery approaches elucidate variants with systematic errors. (Accepted at Genome Research).
Ragsdale, AP, Weaver, TD, Atkinson, EG. et al. (2023). A weakly structured stem for human origins in Africa. Nature. May 17; ePub ahead of print. PMID: 37198480. [Online] [In popular press]
Atkinson, EG. (2023). Estimation of cross-ancestry genetic correlations within ancestry tracts of admixed samples. Nature Genetics. April; 55, 527–529. PMID: 36941440. [Online]
Tan, T & Atkinson, EG. Strategies for the Genomic Analysis of Admixed Populations. Annual Review of Biomedical Data Science. 2023. April 26 (6). PMID: 37127050. [Online]
Atkinson, JG & Atkinson, EG. (2023) Machine Learning and Health Care: Potential Benefits and Issues. J. Ambulatory Care Management. Apr-Jun;46(2):114-120. PMCID: PMC9974552. [Online]
Majara L, Kalungi A, Koen N, Tsuo K, Wang Y, Gupta R, Nkambule LL, Zar H, Stein DJ, Kinyanda E, Atkinson EG, Martin AR. (2023). Low and differential polygenic score generalizability among African populations due largely to genetic diversity. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. Feb 13;4(2):100184. PMCID: PMC9982687. [Online]
Atkinson, E.G., Bianchi, S. B., Ye, G. Y., Martínez-Magaña, J. J., Tietz, G. E., Montalvo-Ortiz, J. L., Giusti-Rodriguez, P., Palmer, A. A., & Sanchez-Roige, S. (2022). Cross-ancestry genomic research: time to close the gap. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022, 1–2. [Online]
Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia. Nature. 604, 502–508 (2022).
Atkinson EG, Dalvie S, Pichkar Y, Kalungi A, Majara L, Injera WE, et al. (2022) Genetic structure correlates with ethnolinguistic diversity in eastern and southern Africa. American Journal of Human Genetics. Sep 1;109(9):1667-1679. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.07.013. [Online] [In the news]
Atkinson EG. Choquet, H., Khor, C. C., & Wonkam, A. (2022). Improving equity in human genomics research. Communications Biology, 5(1). [Online]
Atkinson EG, Maihofer AX, Kanai M, Martin AR, Karczewski KJ, Santoro ML, et al. (2021) Tractor uses local ancestry to enable the inclusion of admixed individuals in GWAS and to boost power. Nature Genetics, 53:195–204. [Online][Press release][In the news]
The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19 by worldwide meta-analysis. (2021) Nature. [Online]
Camarena B, Atkinson EG, Baker M, et al. (2021) Neuropsychiatric Genetics of Psychosis in the Mexican Population: A Genome-Wide Association Study Protocol for Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective, and Bipolar Disorder Patients and Controls. Complex Psychiatry. https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/518926. [Online]
Gopalan S, Atkinson EG, Buck LT, Weaver TD, Henn BM. (2021) Inferring archaic introgression from hominin genetic data. Evolutionary Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21895. [Online]
Martin AR, Atkinson EG, Chapman SB, Stevenson A, Stroud RE, et al. (2021) Low-coverage sequencing cost-effectively detects known and novel variation in underrepresented populations. American Journal of Human Genetics, 108:656-668. [Online]
Wendt FR, Pathak GA, Overstreet C, Tylee DS, Gelernter J, Atkinson EG, Polimanti, R. (2021) Characterizing the effect of background selection on the polygenicity of brain-related traits. Genomics, 113:111–119.[Online]
Guindo-Martínez M, Amela R, Bonàs-Guarch S, Puiggròs M, Salvoro C, Miguel-Escalada I, et al. (2021) The impact of non-additive genetic associations on age-related complex diseases. Nature Communications, 12:2436.[Online]
Scelza BA, Atkinson EG, Prall S, McElreath R, Sheehama J, Henn BM. (2020) The ethics and logistics of field-based genetic paternity studies. Evolutionary Human Sciences 2020;2:1–36. [Online]
Scelza BA, Prall SP, Swinford N, Gopalan S, Atkinson EG, McElreath R, et al. (2020) High rate of extrapair paternity in a human population demonstrates diversity in human reproductive strategies. Science Advances 6:eaay6195. [Online]
