Mental disorders are caused by heritable susceptibility with interplay with environmental factors. While most mental disorders are diagnosed in early adulthood, the disease processes emerge during the childhood and adolescence. Still, most studies have focused on adults, after disease onset with limited opportunity for disease prevention.
The goal of MultiMent is to improve treatment and outcome for people with mental disorders including substance use disorders, by transforming our understanding of the neurodevelopmental trajectories of mental illness. We will take advantage of individual differences in genetic susceptibility, environmental exposures and brain development to develop predictive models of mental disorders.
Our approach builds on prospective birth cohorts (MoBa) including brain imaging during before disease onset, and real-world data from Nordic biobanks and health registries. By combining a big data infrastructure with secure, high-throughput analysis and mathematical modeling we will leverage massive amounts of data, MultiMent will transform mental health research to a dimensional framework allowing prediction of disease development.
The project synergy will be realized by our multidisciplinary team of world leading experts and young talented scientists, embedded in a hospital setting and integrated with a frontline national and international partners. Through long-term funding and integration of mental health and addiction research, MultiMent will unleash the potential of the Nordic biomedical research advantages, ensure new discoveries of disease mechanisms and form the basis for better prevention, treatment and outcome of mental disorders.
The project has been launched and the first results have been published. We have made a thorough analysis of self-reported psychotic experiences, and studied interaction and variation in genetic and clinical heterogeneity in early neurodevelopmental traits in the Norwegian mother, father and child study. We have also shown how symptoms of premenstrual disorders have a partial genetic link with psychiatric disorders.
Mental disorders are heritable complex traits with a considerable environmental contribution. While most patients are identified and diagnosed in early adulthood, initial disease processes emerge already during the formative periods of childhood and adolescence. Still, most studies have focused on adults, with limited opportunity for prevention. With the ultimate goal to improve treatment and outcome for people with mental illness including substance use disorders, the MultiMent will transform our understanding of the neurodevelopmental trajectories of mental illness. We will take advantage of the divergence and individual differences in genotypes, environmental exposures and brain development to develop predictive models of mental illness. Our approach builds on unprecedented prospective birth cohorts (MoBa, n=285k) including brain imaging (n=10k) during premorbid phases, Nordic biobanks, health registries and real-world data from n=2.3M. By combining a world leading analytical pipeline based on secure, high-throughput computational infrastructure and advanced mathematical modeling to leverage massive amounts of data generated from genetic and imaging technology in international cohorts, MultiMent will transform mental health research from a descriptive and categorical approach to a dimensional and predictive framework. The synergistic potential of MultiMent will be realized by our specifically tailored multidisciplinary team of world leading experts and young talented scientists, embedded in a hospital setting and integrated with a network of frontline international partners and clinical and basic research collaborators for biological translation. Through long-term funding and integration of mental health and addiction research, MultiMent will build on and expand existing infrastructure and collaborations to unleash the potential of the Nordic biomedical research advantages, ensure new discoveries and form the basis for better prevention, treatment and outcome.