Lu Yi

Lu Yi

Principal Researcher
E-mail: lu.yi@ki.se
Telephone: +46852487772
Visiting address: Nobelsvägen 12a, 17165 SOLNA
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB I Lu, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • I am a Principal Researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MEB). I lead a research group of Precision Psychiatry. I am directing the KI Psychiatric Genomics Institute since 2023. 

    I am a leader in large international collaborations. I co-chair the Nordic Tryggve consortium (30+ investigators, 5 Nordic countries) and the MDD working group at the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (300+ investigators, 66 countries).

    In addition, I chair the MEB women researcher network (2024-), also a member of the KI Women in Science and Education (WISE) network.

Research

  • My research involves integrating large-scale genomic data and nationwide electronic healthcare records to investigate depression subtypes, as a way to reduce the substantial heterogeneity in this disorder. My long-term research vision is to promote targeted drug development and treatment optimization for MDD patient subgroups to achieve precision psychiatry.

    My research excellence has been recognised nationally and internationally, for which I have been awarded many prestigious grants including a recent award of €1.5 million from European Research Council. I am also the Sweden PI on major funding from US-NIH and EU-Horizon2020.

    1. Genetics of major depressive disorder and its subtypes
    MDD is heterogeneous: however, the extent to which genetic factors distinguish patient subgroups (genetic heterogeneity) remains uncertain. We
    therefore seek evidence for genetic heterogeneity in MDD by studying patient subgroups.

    2.Trans-Nordic collaboration of “register genomics” in psychiatry

    I have co-led the Nordic Tryggve consortium since 2018 (Tryggve: trans-Nordic collaboration on register and genomics research in psychiatry). The Tryggve consortium has enabled integration of genetics in population-based psychiatric studies in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Estonia.

    3. Genetic risk factors of other complex disorders
    I led and contributed to many genome-wide association studies on complex traits and diseases of medical importance, including cancers, eye diseases, and allergic diseases. These work have been published in leading genetic journals, including four in Nature Genetics.

Teaching

  • SUPERVISION:
    Postdoc: Shengxin Liu, Thi Thuy Dung Nguyen. 

    PhD student Olivia Bannon "Investigating the comorbidity between major depression and eating disorders: understanding mechanisms and implications for treatment", since 2025.12. As main supervisor.
    PhD student Arvid Harder. "Genomics and treatment outcomes of major depressive disorder subtypes", since 2023. As main supervisor.

    PhD student Penghao Xia. As co-supervisor. Main supervisor: Miriam Mosing. 

    PhD student Nasimeh Naseri. As co-supervisor. Main supervisor: Shuyang Yao.

    PhD student Lydia Peraza Aguiar. As co-supervisor. Main supervisor: Johan Bjureberg.

    PhD student Sam Bentwood (U. Edinburgh). As co-supervisor. Main supervisor: Alex Kwong.


    *Former students*

    PhD student Ying Xiong. "Genetic epidemiology of treatment-resistant depression", since 2021. (Defended thesis 2025.11.21)

    PhD student Thi Thuy Dung Nguyen. “Aetiology and outcomes in psychiatric disorders”, As main supervisor. (Defended thesis 2023.12.15)
    PhD student Jet Termorshuizen. “Genetic and environmental factors influencing the course and outcome of eating disorder”, As co-supervisor. (Defended thesis 2023.12.08)
    PhD student Ashley Tate. “Prediction of negative life outcomes in children with ADHD”. As co-supervisor. (Defended thesis 2022.02.18)
    Bachelor student Alison Baxley, Bachelor Thesis in Medical Science with a Major in Biomedicine, Karolinska Institutet. “Polygenic risk scores for
    schizophrenia and childhood accidents, injury and self-harm”. Spring 2017.

    TEACHING:
    Lecturer: "Psychiatric Genetics" within the Research School of Psychiatry (Forskarskolan inom klinisk psykiatri), Karolinska Institutet and Region
    Stockholm. Feb 6-10, 2023, Sept 30-Oct 4, 2024. Oct 2-8, 2026.
    Course: “Molecular epidemiology”. Epidemiology program, Karolinska Institutet. 2018, 2020, 2023, 2025.

    Course: “Molecular genetic psychiatry”. Clinical Psychology program, Karolinska Institutet. 2017, 2018, 2019.
    Summer school: “GWAS and imputation”, Brain Imaging Genetics Summer School, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 2018.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • SSMF
    1 January 2027 - 31 December 2031
  • National Institute of Mental Health
    26 August 2026 - 31 July 2031
  • Precision-based evidence for digital mental health: A genomic framework for the adolescent brain and digital behavior
    Hjärnfonden
    1 July 2026 - 30 June 2027
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
    1 April 2026 - 31 March 2031
    In Canada, schizophrenia is a mental health condition that can lead to disability and early death. Researchers have used large databases to find genetic factors that contribute to our understanding of how schizophrenia works, however none of these studies included people from Manitoba and very few from Canada. We want to create a Manitoba-specific study to understand schizophrenia, where we will invite people with schizophrenia to participate by providing a blood sample. We will also collect medical data, and link to other data sources that are already available such as that from medical records and or other government sources. This is unlike any other study in Canada, because Manitoba has unique medical data available, where it covers most of a person's life, from birth to the end of life. These large databases that link genetic and medical data for conditions like schizophrenia are uncommon globally, but we also have access to a similar study in Sweden. Accessing this Swedish data can help to compare our findings from Manitoba with an outside country that is like Canada. Our goal is to provide a better understanding of schizophrenia in Canadians, compare with that of the Swedish study, and perform research to understand how genetics play a role in schizophrenia. To achieve these goals, we have three main aims: (1) create the Manitoba Schizophrenia Study, (2) examine if there genetic differences between those with and without schizophrenia, and compare this to individuals from Sweden and (3) investigate whether any genetic factors play a role in antipsychotic drug prescribing. The results from this project will create a highly coveted and novel resource for schizophrenia researchers in Canada, support new knowledge to improve our understanding of schizophrenia and may lead to new insights into the condition and potential targets for better treatments.
  • Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation
    1 January 2026 - 31 December 2030
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2025 - 31 December 2029
    This project targets tertiary prevention in psychiatry: identifying, early in the course of care, individuals most likely to develop severe, persistent illness and tailoring care accordingly. We focus on major depressive disorder (MDD), anorexia nervosa (AN), and bulimia nervosa (BN)—disorders with high female predominance and major contributions to disability among Swedish women. Using Sweden’s exceptional national health registers, we will construct large, richly phenotyped cohorts spanning four decades and apply modern machine learning to detect reproducible, data-driven patterns of long-term outcomes (Aim 1), identify early predictors of poor trajectories including clinical, social, developmental, and genomic factors (Aim 2), and use causal inference to determine which treatments are associated with better outcomes in those at highest risk (Aim 3). Analyses will emphasize replication, generalizability, and clinical relevance, with a focus on sex differences. Preliminary results demonstrate feasibility and identify clinically actionable subgroups, including those at elevated risk for suicide or diagnostic crossover. Successful completion will yield robust, generalizable predictive models to guide personalized, proactive psychiatric care and inform scalable tertiary prevention strategies. Findings will be directly relevant to Swedish healthcare and may serve as a model internationally.
  • Specifying the association between substance abuse and schizophrenia, with a focus on adolescents and young adults
    Swedish research council for health, working life and welfare
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2027
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2027
    Schizophrenia and related psychoses are associated with obstetric complications but whether these associations are causal is yet to be explored. This study investigates the relationship between specific complications (e.g. preterm birth, growth restriction, hypoxia), genetic predisposition, and schizophrenia risk using a comprehensive approach integrating large-scale register-based cohort studies, genetically-informed designs, individual genotypes, and detailed familial health data.This is finally possible since we are updating our register linkage, Psychiatry Sweden, to include follow-up data until 2022, thereby enhancing our power (N=25 000 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders). This presents an opportunity to combine a total-population cohort study with genetically-informed designs, such as sibling- and cousin-comparison studies, and pedigree-based family psychiatric history risk scores using familial health records in up to third degree relatives, to enhance the robustness of our causal inference. Finally, we have now genotyped a sub-set of 3000 individuals with schizophrenia and 2500 controls. Integrating  individual genotype data with health registers, we will examine the joint influence of genetics and obstetric complications on schizophrenia risk using polygenic risk scores and tentatively pathway analyses.Together these studies will add to the etiological knowledge about schizophrenia but also whether maternity care could constitute a way of prevention.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    The MoodMAP project targets the challenge of diagnosing and treating reproductive mood disorders (RMDs), such as premenstrual disorder and postpartum depression, which significantly affect women’s health and contribute to the mental health gender gap. Emerging evidence including our own indicate that these disorders, linked to hormonal changes, may be influenced by genetic predisposition, chronic inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction. Our goals are to uncover new biomarkers, understand the biological underpinnings of women’s susceptibility to mood disorders, and improve strategies for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Utilizing data from three Nordic cohorts, the project will:1) integrate genomic, inflammatory proteomic, and metabolomic data to map RMDs’ molecular architecture
    2) identify functional and causal biomarkers through hormone-manipulated cell data and epidemiological methods
    3) predict clinical prognosis using multi-omics data and machine learning.By studying RMDs in concert, MoodMAP aims to reveal the biological basis of female vulnerability to mood disorders, employing advanced omics techniques and state-of-the-art design and analytic methods. The research team is experienced and interdisciplinary in nature, with specific milestones mapped out for each aim over five years. This project is poised to transform our understanding of RMDs, enhancing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches and ultimately addressing the gender gap in mental health.
  • National Institutes of Health
    6 May 2024 - 28 February 2029
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2027
    Research problem and specific questionsSex/gender differences in mental health among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are well documented. Yet, the driving forces are poorly understood. Premenstrual disorders (PMDs) are common yet under-investigated mental/behavioral conditions emerging during adolescence, with a significant psychosocial impact on young women. Our recent work based on cross-sectional data revealed that the higher prevalence rates of depression and anxiety in adolescent girls than boys did not emerge until menarche and were almost fully attributable to PMDs. However, prospective data are urgently needed to demonstrate the causal relations between PMDs and mental ill-health in young women, and subsequently the contribution to the sex disparities in AYAs mental health.Data and methodsLeveraging the nationwide Swedish register data and two large prospective cohorts (the LifeGene and CATSS), this proposal aims to develop a strategy roadmap for future interventions reducing mental health sex/gender disparities among AYAs through novel prevention programs for PMDs. Specifically, we aim to: 1) assess the association of PMDs and subsequent risks of depression and anxiety using population and sibling analyses
    2) quantify the mediating role of PMDs in the sex differences in mental health and suicidal behavior using mediation analysis
    and 3) determine modifiable childhood causal risk factors for PMDs using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.Plan for project realizationThe research team consists of multidisciplinary experts from epidemiology, OB/GYN, psychology/psychiatry, and genetics from Iceland, Sweden, and the US. The applicant has extensive experience in conducting cutting-edge studies on women´s mental health, particularly among AYAs, using registers and large population-based cohorts with advanced methods integrating omics data. One full-time PhD student and 70% of a postdoc will be financed to implement the projects over 3 years under the applicant´s supervision. RelevanceMental ill-health is the leading cause of disease burden among AYAs in Sweden and the sex/gender disparity is alarmingly concerning. However, very limited progress has been implemented so far. Through this program, we will fill an important knowledge gap in the contribution of PMDs to the sex/gender disparities in AYAs mental health, and provide innovative guidelines for future interventions targeted to reduce such disparities.
  • Karolinska institutet
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2028
  • European Research Council
    1 October 2022 - 30 September 2027
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2025
  • the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
    1 June 2021 - 31 December 2025
  • National Institutes of Health
    10 June 2020 - 31 March 2025

Employments

  • Principal Researcher, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2018-2021
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2017-2018

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