Na Cai
Next Dep Step: Next generation studies of major depressive disorder etiology in Danish bio-registers
Na Cai, Group leader, PhD, Helmholtz Munich, has received a fellowship totaling DKK 10 million from the Lundbeck Foundation.
Na Cai’s project focuses on identifying genetic contribution and biological pathways contributing towards Major Depressive Disorder, one of the most common and debilitating mental health disorders. Na Cai and her research group will perform statistical association analysis between genetic variations between people and their disease status, obtained through detailed clinical questionnaires, self-reports, and electronic health records.
Other clinical characteristics, comorbid diseases, environmental risk factors, and molecular omics data will also be applied to stratify individuals by their risk of developing MDD, as well as patients into disease subtypes.
The goal of Na Cai’s research is to reach a better understanding of the biology behind MDD, and to use this understanding to improve diagnostics and treatment strategies for this disease.
