Research
The genetic basis of neurobehavioral traits, development of research tools to facilitate the genetic investigation of complex traits
Appointments
- Director, Biological Samples Processing Core (BSPC)
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics
- Informatics Center for Neurogenetics and Neurogenomics (ICNN)
- UCLA Neuroscience Genomics Core
- Professor, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
- Member, Neuroscience IDP
- Adult Psychiatry
- Brain Research Institute
- CTSI
Biography
The research in Dr. Freimer’s laboratory aims to identify the genetic basis of complex traits, particularly neurobehavioral phenotypes such as bipolar disorder, Tourette Syndrome, and temperament. Together with numerous collaborators the lab has centered its studies around three foci:
1) using genomewide genetic approaches to map neurobehavioral traits
2) developing innovative approaches to phenotype neurobehavioral traits
3) emphasizing the importance of population genetics for gene mapping, particularly the use of population isolates.
Publications
- Boltz, TA, Chu, BB, DeFelice, M, Liao, C, Sealock, JM, Ye, R et al.. A blended genome and exome sequencing method captures genetic variation in an unbiased and cost-effective manner. Nat Genet. 2026; :. doi: 10.1038/s41588-026-02669-w. PubMed PMID:42420521 .
- Lopera-Maya, E, Service, SK, Díaz-Zuluaga, AM, Ramírez, MC, Mejia, JC, Valencia, J et al.. Effect of ancestry and shared genetic architecture of serious mental illness on symptoms and cognition in an admixed Latin American population. Res Sq. 2026; :. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9658547/v1. PubMed PMID:42281970 PubMed Central PMC13252545.
- Lopera-Maya, E, Service, SK, Díaz-Zuluaga, AM, Ramírez, MC, Mejia, JC, Valencia, J et al.. Effect of ancestry and shared genetic architecture of serious mental illness on symptoms and cognition in an admixed Latin American population. medRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.05.05.26351986. PubMed PMID:42145589 PubMed Central PMC13174737.
- Diaz-Zuluaga, AM, Anderberg, JL, Ramirez-Diaz, AM, Marques, AH, Rast, CE, Bustamante, D et al.. A Global Prospective Harmonization Framework for Suicidality, Anhedonia, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Psychiatric Genetic Studies: A Cross-Continental Study Within the Ancestral Population Network. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2026; :. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.b.70019. PubMed PMID:42109083 .
- Zhan, L, Yu, D, Ivankovic, F, Niarchou, M, Domenech-Salgado, L, Barr, CL et al.. Distinct patterns of de novo coding variants contribute to Tourette Syndrome etiology. bioRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.11.04.686570. PubMed PMID:41279245 PubMed Central PMC12637548.