Research
Neurogenetic disorders; neurobehavioral biomarkers of serious mental illness
Appointments
- Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Brain Research Institute
- Integrative Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics
- Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART)
- Director, Center for the Assessment and Prevention of Prodromal States (CAPPS)
Biography
Her research aims to understand genetic and neurobiological risk factors for the development of early-onset neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Bearden’s work examines these questions through two complementary lines of research:
1) The investigation of early biomarkers that predict disease risk and trajectory in at-risk populations; and
2) Translational approaches to understanding disrupted brain circuitry in highly penetrant genetic subtypes (e.g, 22q11.2 microdeletions)
Publications
- Hamilton, HK, Roach, BJ, Nicholas, S, Dembo, R, Bachman, PM, Belger, A et al.. Visual P300 and risk for psychosis onset in youth at clinical high-risk. Biol Psychiatry. 2026; :. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2026.02.013. PubMed PMID:41771336 .
- Boen, R, Villalón-Reina, JE, Kushan, L, O'Hora, KP, Fung, H, Parker, N et al.. Gene dosage effects of 22q11.2 copy number variants on in-vivo measures of white matter axonal density and dispersion. Mol Psychiatry. 2026; :. doi: 10.1038/s41380-026-03489-4. PubMed PMID:41720882 .
- Rajkumar, S, Bearden, CE, Sebat, J, Iakoucheva, LM. Convergence and divergence of molecular phenotypes in iPSC-derived models of 16p11.2 and 22q11.2 reciprocal copy number variants. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2026;97 :102441. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2026.102441. PubMed PMID:41690235 .
- Guest, RM, Addington, J, Bearden, CE, Cadenhead, KS, Cornblatt, BA, Mathalon, DH et al.. Contributions of regional cortical thickness and surface area to cognitive functioning in psychosis-risk. Schizophr Res. 2026;290 :98-105. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2026.02.004. PubMed PMID:41671768 .
- Hua, JPY, Roach, BJ, Hamilton, HK, Bachman, PM, Belger, A, Carrión, RE et al.. Theta Oscillations Assessed From a Passive Auditory Oddball Paradigm in Individuals at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis and Healthy Control Individuals: Associations with Clinical Outcomes and Mismatch Negativity. Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci. 2026;6 (2):100664. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100664. PubMed PMID:41646831 PubMed Central PMC12870832.