Week 3

Purpose

The purpose of this video lecture is to introduce to the Mendelian randomizations and discuss applications of Mendelian randomization in nutritional epidemiology, focusing on the good, the bad, and the unverifiable.

Meet the Guest Speaker

Stella Askibekyan, Ph.D.

Dr. Aslibekyan is a Senior Scientist in Genetic Epidemiology at 23andMe and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as well as the University of Kentucky. She earned her undergraduate honors degree in Human Biology from Stanford (2005), followed by training at the Harvard School of Public Health (SM in Epidemiology, 2008) and Brown University (PhD in Epidemiology, 2011).

Throughout her research career, she has focused on the "nature and nurture" question-- i.e. the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in determining disease risk. She has investigated this question in a variety of populations using several complementary approaches. For example, her group has conducted some of the first epigenome-wide studies of DNA methylation variants and disease, identifying novel loci linking inflammation and the risk of myocardial infarction (Aslibekyan et al., JAMA Cardiology, 2018).

Dr. Aslibekyan has also worked on disentangling correlation from causation using various applications of the Mendelian randomization approach. Dr. Aslibekyan's work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. Currently, she works on integrating the large-scale genetic and phenotypic data available at 23andMe to produce comprehensive and accurate models of disease in human populations.

Video Lecture

The video lecture is broken into three parts: What is Mendelian randomization?, assumptions to be satisfied, and more on independence.

Please click each tab to watch each part of the video lecture.

What is Mendelian Randomization?
Assumptions to be Satisfied
More on Independence

What is Mendelian Randomization?

Assumptions to be Satisfied

More on Independence

Accessibility Note: To access auto closed captions (CC) services please click on the icon in the video's bottom right corner. Manual CC are available by submitting a request for services to ATAC: (812) 856-4112 or atac@iu.edu

NOTE: Please click on the link below to download the video lecture slides:

Causal Inference from Mendelian Randomization

Reading

Below is a paper you may be interested in reading regarding this topic:

Davies, N. M., Holmes, M. V., & Smith, G. D. (2018). Reading Mendelian randomisation studies: a guide, glossary, and checklist for clinicians. BMJ, 362. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k601