Danielle Dick
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Genetics
Why do some people develop substance use disorders while others do not? Genes play a role, but finding the specific genes has been slow.
- Fields
Genetics
Psychology
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
substance use disorders
addiction
alcohol use
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Sep 2026
What they work on
- Increase power to detect common genetic variants linked to substance use outcomes by applying multivariate genomic methods that analyze substance use together with genetically related psychiatric and behavioral traits.
- Characterize the shared hidden pathways through which identified variants act, and use bioinformatic analysis to point to the underlying biological risk processes.
- Map which behaviors polygenic risk scores (combined measures of many small genetic effects) predict across adolescence and emerging adulthood in a population-based and a high-risk longitudinal sample.
- Test whether genetic risk pathways differ by sex and racial/ethnic background, and whether key environmental factors moderate genetic risk for substance use disorders.
More about the research
Too few people with these disorders have been studied to detect small genetic effects. Twin studies and large genetic surveys show that risk genes are shared across many outcomes. These include the age someone first uses a substance, how much they use, the problems they have, and related behaviors such as impulsivity and rule-breaking. This project uses that sharing to find more genes, then follows how genetic risk plays out as young people grow up.
Why it matters
Substance use disorders cause serious harm, but gene discovery for them lags behind other psychiatric conditions. Finding risk genes and learning when and in whom genetic risk shows up could help improve prevention, intervention and treatment. This work could also lay groundwork for more personalized approaches for adolescents and young adults at risk.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Raquel Gur
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Track psychiatric symptoms and neurocognition over time in about 300 adolescents and young adults with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, using dimensional measures with a focus on the emergence of psychosis.
Michael A Mooney
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Psychology
Map how inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, irritability, executive functioning, vigilance and reward delay discounting co-develop from ages 7–19, using longitudinal data from the Oregon-ADHD-1000 and ABCD cohorts.
Kaixiong Ye
University of Georgia, GA·Genetics
Develop and apply statistical tests to detect genetic and polygenic responses to the Agricultural Revolution using ancient DNA, identifying adaptive variants whose mismatch with modern lifestyles may underlie today's common diseases.
The school
Rutgers University-New Brunswick: 57 labs on PI Pages, $837M a year on research, 713 research doctorates a year.
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