Learning objectives

• Understand why whole-genome sequencing data is necessary to fully understand the genetics of autism.
• Describe the roles of different types of genetic variation in the etiology of autism.
• Understand why autism polygenic risk scores should be interpreted with caution and are currently not informative at the level of individuals or families.

Speaker biography

Brett completed his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan, where he developed computational and statistical methods for studying phosphorylation-mediated cellular signaling. Subsequently, he was a Research Fellow at The Centre for Applied Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), where he used whole-genome sequencing data to study the genomic architecture of autism spectrum disorder. Brett joined the Molecular Medicine Program at SickKids as a Scientist in 2023, where he is interested in developing machine learning and multi-omics approaches to better understanding the role of genetics in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions.