Mila is hosting its first quantum computing hackathon on November 21, a unique day to explore quantum and AI prototyping, collaborate on Quandela and IBM platforms, and learn, share, and network in a stimulating environment at the heart of Quebec’s AI and quantum ecosystem.
This new initiative aims to strengthen connections between Mila’s research community, its partners, and AI experts across Quebec and Canada through in-person meetings and events focused on AI adoption in industry.
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Regulation of gene expression shapes the interaction between brain networks which in-turn supports psychological processes such as cognitive… (see more) ability. How changes in level of gene expression across the cerebral cortex influence cognitive ability remains unknown. Here, we tackle this by leveraging genomic deletions and duplications - copy number variants (CNVs) that fully encompass one or more genes expressed in the human cortex - which lead to large effects on gene-expression levels. We assigned genes to 180 regions of the human cerebral cortex based on their preferential expression across the cortex computed using data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. We aggregated CNVs in cortical regions, and ran a burden association analysis to compute the mean effect size of genes on general cognitive ability for each of the 180 regions. When affected by CNVs, most of the regional gene-sets were associated with lower cognitive ability. The spatial patterns of effect sizes across the cortex were correlated negatively between deletions and duplications. The largest effect sizes for deletions and duplications were observed for gene-sets with high expression in sensorimotor and association regions, respectively. These two opposing patterns of effect sizes were not influenced by intolerance to loss of function, demonstrating orthogonality to dosage-sensitivity scores. The same mirror patterns were also observed after stratifying genes based on cell types and developmental epochs markers. These results suggest that the effect size of gene dosage on cognitive ability follows a cortical gradient. The same brain region and corresponding gene-set may show different effects on cognition depending on whether variants increase or decrease transcription. The latter has major implications for the association of brain networks with phenotypes
Regulation of gene expression shapes the interaction between brain networks which in-turn supports psychological processes such as cognitive… (see more) ability. How changes in level of gene expression across the cerebral cortex influence cognitive ability remains unknown. Here, we tackle this by leveraging genomic deletions and duplications - copy number variants (CNVs) that fully encompass one or more genes expressed in the human cortex - which lead to large effects on gene-expression levels. We assigned genes to 180 regions of the human cerebral cortex based on their preferential expression across the cortex computed using data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. We aggregated CNVs in cortical regions, and ran a burden association analysis to compute the mean effect size of genes on general cognitive ability for each of the 180 regions. When affected by CNVs, most of the regional gene-sets were associated with lower cognitive ability. The spatial patterns of effect sizes across the cortex were correlated negatively between deletions and duplications. The largest effect sizes for deletions and duplications were observed for gene-sets with high expression in sensorimotor and association regions, respectively. These two opposing patterns of effect sizes were not influenced by intolerance to loss of function, demonstrating orthogonality to dosage-sensitivity scores. The same mirror patterns were also observed after stratifying genes based on cell types and developmental epochs markers. These results suggest that the effect size of gene dosage on cognitive ability follows a cortical gradient. The same brain region and corresponding gene-set may show different effects on cognition depending on whether variants increase or decrease transcription. The latter has major implications for the association of brain networks with phenotypes
Copy number variations (CNVs) are rare genomic deletions and duplications that can exert profound effects on brain and behavior. Previous re… (see more)ports of pleiotropy in CNVs imply that they converge on shared mechanisms at some level of pathway cascades, from genes to large-scale neural circuits to the phenome. However, studies to date have primarily examined single CNV loci in small clinical cohorts. It remains unknown how distinct CNVs escalate the risk for the same developmental and psychiatric disorders. Here, we quantitatively dissect the impact on brain organization and behavioral differentiation across eight key CNVs. In 534 clinical CNV carriers from multiple sites, we explored CNV-specific brain morphology patterns. We extensively annotated these CNV-associated patterns with deep phenotyping assays through the UK Biobank resource. Although the eight CNVs cause disparate brain changes, they are tied to similar phenotypic profiles across ∼1000 lifestyle indicators. Our population-level investigation established brain structural divergences and phenotypical convergences of CNVs, with direct relevance to major brain disorders.