Generation Scotland

11/02/2026

📢New research!!

New research reveals that DNA methylation signatures of inflammation predict brain ageing better than traditional blood tests. DNAm CRP and GDF15 outperformed plasma measures in predicting cognitive decline and dementia risk over 25 years. A promising step toward identifying at-risk individuals earlier.

Grateful to all Generation Scotland participants whose generous contributions made this research possible. 💙

Read the full paper, Drouin et al. 2025: https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.70281

04/02/2026

📢New research!!

🧬 Landmark study on the genetics of anxiety — just published in Nature Genetics.

Researchers identified 58 genetic risk variants in over 122,000 anxiety cases. Three key takeaways:

🔍 The largest anxiety GWAS to date — 51 variants independently replicated in over 3 million people.

🔗 Anxiety and depression share remarkably deep genetic roots.

🧠 Anxiety risk is widespread across the brain, not tied to a single region.

A huge thank you to the volunteers of Generation Scotland for contributing to this research. Your participation truly matters. 🙏

Read the full paper, Strom et al. 2025: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02485-8

29/01/2026

📢AMBER: Antidepressant Medications: Biology, Exposure & Response📢

The AMBER project aims to identify the biological underpinnings of individual responses to antidepressant treatment. It integrates self-reported antidepressant treatment data with genetic and biological data from Generation Scotland participants.

Thanks to our Generation Scotland volunteers for contributing to this important mental health treatment.

21/01/2026

📢Loneliness in the Digital World📢

The Loneliness project investigated the impacts of in-person and online social interaction on loneliness and mental wellbeing in young people aged 12 – 15. Young people in the Loneliness project were recruited from Generation Scotland.

Thanks to our Generation Scotland volunteers for contributing to this important mental health research in young people.

17/12/2025

📢New research!!

Generation Scotland volunteers have contributed to a methylome-wide association study.

Dr Josephine A. Robertson: “There’s growing excitement about using blood biomarkers to improve disease risk prediction. Here, we looked at how two major biomarker sets — epigenetic signals and circulating proteins — relate to future cardiovascular disease. We found that epigenetic scores for protein levels often showed stronger links to disease risk than the proteins measured directly."

Professor Riccardo E. Marioni: "Our study highlights the potential of combining epigenetics and proteomics to find better predictors of cardiovascular disease. The paper also presents the first large-scale proteomics analysis from Generation Scotland, which will be a valuable resource for future biomedical research.”

10/12/2025

Between 2022 and 2025, we reached a remarkable milestone 🥳: over 16,000 volunteers from across Scotland joined the NextGenerationScotland study. This incredible response reflects the strength of community engagement in research and Scotland's commitment to advancing scientific understanding.

The attached heatmap shows the geographic distribution of our volunteers and key demographic insights. It's inspiring to see participation spanning the breadth of Scotland—from urban centres to remote communities.

To everyone who stepped forward to be part of this research: thank you👏 . Your contribution is shaping the future of our work and making a real difference.

03/12/2025

Here is a snapshot of the biological, clinical and questionnaire data Generation Scotland collected.

Generation Scotland is a research resource encompassing a large family and population-based cohort to facilitate study of the genetic and environmental determinants of health, ideal for precision medicine research (N = ~40,000). We are currently conducting the omics analysis of NextGenScot saliva sample.

Want to explore more? Here is our data explorer tool: https://shiny.igc.ed.ac.uk/GS_Data_Explorer/

26/11/2025

What is Generation Scotland?

We are the largest family health study in Scotland.

We aim to provide researchers around the world with a resource that enables scientific discoveries and improves health knowledge and disease treatments. We aim to inform and influence health policy through rigorous scientific evidence to improve lives.

More information: https://genscot.ed.ac.uk/

12/11/2025

📢New research!!

Generation Scotland volunteers have contributed to a methylome-wide association study examining DNA methylation associated with major depression. This meta-analysis is the largest to date and included 18 studies with over 24,000 participants. The results reveal that depression has distinct biological signatures in the blood, particularly in genes that control immune function, inflammation and metabolism.

Read the full paper, Shen et al. 2025: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00486-4

11/11/2025

👏 Congratulation

A HUGE Congrats to Dr Mark Adams, Senior Research Fellow in Psychiatry, who has received the Gershon Paper of the Year award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics for the paper, Trans-ancestry genome-wide study of depression identifies 697 associations implicating cell types and pharmacotherapies, published in Cell (2025).

For more information about the paper: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01415-6?uuid=uuid%3A38362097-5ece-4c4a-b2fc-294190757fb8

05/11/2025

📢NEWS: ReGeneration Scotland

We have already started inviting eligible volunteers to take part in an exciting new study that is part of the Generation Scotland project.

ReGeneration Scotland: Revisiting health and genetics to assess change in biological health

For more information: https://genscot.ed.ac.uk/for-volunteers/regeneration-scotland

25/08/2025

📢 Reminder!
If you can’t join us in person for the Generation Scotland Symposium tomorrow, don’t miss out! 🎥 Watch live on YouTube from ⏰ 10am.

💬 There’ll be chances to ask questions and take part in live polls online too!

💡 Can’t make it live? The full recording will be available to watch anytime afterwards.

Join us in-person or online for a day of engaging discussions, networking and learning as we celebrate the 20th year of Generation Scotland. The symposium wi...