The prize is awarded by Oslo University Hospital every half-year to stimulate excellent research and draw attention to the hospital's research activity. The six awarded groups each receive NOK 50.000 for use on further research.
Olav Smeland, researcher at NORMENT and first author of the paper, received the prize during a ceremony at Ullevål hospital on Friday the 25th of May.
In the study published in JAMA Psychiatry, the researchers analyzed genome-wide association studies on schizophrenia and cognitive traits in more than 250 000 participants, and 21 genomic regions were found to be shared between schizophrenia and cognitive traits. These results provide new insights into the common genetic basis of schizophrenia and cognitive function.
Link to the paper: Identification of Genetic Loci Jointly Influencing Schizophrenia Risk and the Cognitive Traits of Verbal-Numerical Reasoning, Reaction Time, and General Cognitive Function