Genes to brains to mind to me

Hello & thanks! for stopping by “Genes to brains to mind to me“  a weblog where I enjoy sharing my sense of wonder and enthusiasm for genetics, neuroscience and the evolution of human behavior.  I’ve found that having access to my genome has enriched my life and I’d like to share that experience as best I can.

Even though most – if not all – of your genome has very little predictive or medical value at the moment (see my Scams page), I’ve been using my genome as a way to begin to explore my mental life.  In the formal research world, genetics and neuroimaging are beginning to help validate psychological constructs such as, “inhibition” or “executive function” that, currently, can have many different interpretations.  Also, these technologies are useful for understanding continuity in psychological function over the course of cognitive development.  To me, genetic information is a convenient starting point to ask, “what makes us similar to each other (and other species)?” and “what makes each person so unique?“  Genetic and brain function information is certainly not an answer in-and-of itself, but merely a place to begin to learn more about how the brain and mind develop across millennia and within individual children.

As more folks embark on their own personal genome explorations, it is possible that genomics and other biomarker technologies may help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and someday improve mental healthcare – by making it more predictive and personalised.  This could have favorable macroeconomic effects by interlinking with emerging health2.0 models that help consumers obtain better care are while keeping costs under control.

These are the main topics I cover in this blog.  I hope that readers like yourself, consumers, physicians, scientists, software engineers, economists and many other stake-holders will interact and converse on these pages.

Please enjoy my plain vanilla posts, podcasts, book reviews and occasional forays into graphic art – which are mainly just for fun and may inspire a shared imagination, emotion and humanity that can come from self-exploration.  I hope it will catalyze a conversation.  

What do you think? Leave a comment!

Thanks again for visiting !

John Fossella, PhD MBA

My professional sketch, my list of co-authored publications & glad to connect via Twitter or via my stigma-busting efforts with NAMI Union County, NJ or just e-mail me (johnfossella”at”gmail.com).  If by chance you are looking for help with a non-profit project, research paper or grant proposal, I am dedicated to this topic and would be delighted to help as best I can.

For some overviews of the science covered here, I’ve pitched in on a review article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience as well as 2  “ye olde fashioned words actually printed on paper” books: The Genetics of Cognitive Neuroscience (Chapter 5: Fossella, Fan & Posner) and The Cognitive Neurosciences III (Chapter 90: Fossella & Posner).

My gnarly lookin’ brain