The Youth-GEMs project: genetic and environmental interactions underlying trajectories of youth mental health
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Most mental disorders emerge before age 24, yet the mechanisms shaping youth mental health trajectories remain poorly understood. Here, we present the Youth-GEMs consortium performing a multidisciplinary, multisite research project funded by a European Union Horizon-Staying-Healthy-2021 grant. The Youth-GEMs project (Gene Environment interactions in Mental health trajectorieS of Youth) has an integrated, developmental framework that examines how genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors dynamically interact to influence risk and resilience across adolescence and young adulthood. The project combines developmental (epi)genomic mapping of the human brain, genomic analyses of trans-syndromal phenotypes, exposome-wide environmental assessment, and Artificial Intelligence-based modelling to identify predictive and actionable markers of mental health trajectories of young people. By harmonizing multimodal data from existing population-based cohorts and by establishing the first international, trans-syndromal clinical cohort of help-seeking young people, Youth-GEMs is generating biologically informed polygenic and exposomic scores, cell-type-specific regulatory annotations, and interpretable machine-learning models. Continuous engagement with young people, clinicians, and stakeholders ensures that findings translate into tools for early detection, monitoring, and personalized intervention. Together, these efforts aim to advance mechanistic understandings of youth mental health, improve prediction of emerging illness, and support the development of evidence-based, developmentally sensitive approaches to prevention and care.
Authors: Sinan Guloksuz, Bochao Lin, Covadonga M. Díaz-Caneja, Elisabeth Binder, Jonathan Mill, ESMERALDA RUIZ, Karim Lekadir, Maria Bulgheroni, Jim van Os, Simona Karbouniaris, Liina Nagirnaja, Therese van Amelsvoort, David Cotter, Jeroen Pasterkamp, Celso Arango, Philippe Delespaul, Jaanus Harro, Dejan Stevanovic, Tomislav Franić, Mary Cannon, Marco Boks, Christel Maria Middeldorp, Robin Murray, Michael C. O’Donovan
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7167481836