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Recent Updates

News

2025 wrapped: A Year in Review

As we approach the last days of the year, we take a moment to reflect on the milestones that have shaped 2025 for FAMILY. The consortium continued to advance its mission of understanding and addressing the intergenerational transmission of mental illness. Each activity contributed to strengthening scientific excellence, public engagement, and meaningful dialogue across Europe.

The year began with an important step toward accessible science. In January, translations of our layman’s paper were released, making our introductory publication available in multiple European languages. This effort reflects our commitment to lowering communication barriers and ensuring that research insights reach diverse communities. All translations are available on our website.

June brought the 2nd FAMILY Stakeholder Dialogue Event. Held online and organised in collaboration with the Re-MEND and R2D2-MH projects, the event convened 38 participants from across Europe. Over three hours, experts, clinicians, and individuals with lived experience explored the realities of mental health stigma. Discussions addressed how stigma shapes care and perception, how responsibility framing influences attitudes, and why inclusive language is essential for respectful and effective communication. Concrete strategies for improving dialogue and reducing barriers emerged from the exchanges. A follow-up meeting was held in early September and kept the dialogue going.

In July, FAMILY had a strong presence at the ESCAP conference. Neeltje van Haren opened the state-of-the-art lectures with an overview of how brain imaging contributes to understanding intergenerational mental illness. Manon Hillegers chaired a symposium on insights from longitudinal cohort studies and their implications for clinical practice. In addition, Signe Mežinska presented a poster on stakeholders’ attitudes toward future clinical applications of prediction tools. The work drew on a survey of 81 clinical psychiatrists and 30 qualitative interviews with individuals with lived experience and their relatives.

October offered another highlight, as FAMILY delivered a dedicated course at the 25th Congress of the World Psychiatric Association in Prague. The session “Intergenerational Mental Health. Navigating the Frontiers of Risk, Resilience, and Prevention” addressed how genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and neurobiological factors intersect across generations. By combining clinical case discussions, user perspectives, and current research, the course demonstrated how informed prevention and timely intervention can disrupt cycles of vulnerability and promote mental health equity.

In November, the consortium gathered in Spain for the 4th General Assembly Meeting. Over two days, partners reviewed the project’s scientific progress, exchanged results, and aligned on upcoming milestones. Following updates from all Work Packages, strategic discussions paved the way for the next phase of implementation. Informal moments, including beach activities and a group dinner in Sitges, offered valuable opportunities for strengthening collaboration.

We extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed to the project’s accomplishments in 2025. This includes the families who participated in our studies. Their trust and willingness to engage in complex research are fundamental to advancing our understanding and strengthening the scientific foundation of the project.

We look ahead to the coming year with motivation, new plans and optimism. Stay connected with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Bluesky for ongoing updates, events, and insights from the FAMILY project.

17 December 2025
News

DNA Methylation Patterns in Newborns Point to Susceptibility to Schizophrenia

A new analysis by Isabel Schuurmans and Charlotte Cecil identifies distinct epigenetic signatures in cord blood linked to an increased susceptibility to schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

Genetic susceptibility to neurodevelopmental conditions such as schizophrenia, autism, and ADHD can be linked, in part, to distinct epigenetic signatures in newborn cord blood. An analysis of nearly 6,000 newborns in iological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, revealed that genetic susceptibility to neurodevelopmental conditions is already associated with measurable differences in DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns at birth. These differences were particularly strong for susceptibility to schizophrenia and clustered in genes involved in immune function, notably, the major histocompatibility complex, which has been consistently linked to schizophrenia risk and immune function in research on adults.

Full publication: Schuurmans IK et al. Genetic susceptibility to neurodevelopmental conditions associates with neonatal DNA methylation patterns in the general population: an individual participant data meta-analysis. Biol Psychiatry. 2025 Sep 22. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.09.005.

20 November 2025
News

4th General Assembly Meeting in Barcelona

From 5–7 November 2025, the FAMILY consortium met in Barcelona, Spain, for its 4th General Assembly Meeting. The two-day event brought together project partners from across Europe to review progress, share results, and plan the next steps in the project’s implementation.

Following a warm welcome from Project Coordinator Neeltje van Haren and local host Gisela Sugranyes, the meeting agenda featured comprehensive updates from all Work Packages, detailed discussions on recent scientific achievements, and strategic sessions focused on the project’s upcoming milestones.

To complement the intensive working sessions, participants had the opportunity to connect informally through team-building activities on the beach and a group dinner in Sitges, fostering stronger collaboration and personal exchange beyond the formal meeting setting.

We extend our sincere thanks to all partners – those present in Barcelona and those joining online – for their active engagement and valuable contributions. The consortium now looks forward to continuing this dynamic collaboration as the project moves into its next phase of research and innovation.

Are you interested in our latest research results? Check out our publications page.

05 - 07 November 2025

About

Mental illness runs in families.
The FAMILY consortium aims to improve the life of mentally-ill persons and their families:

  • firstly focus on better understanding the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of mental illness from parent to child.
  • studying the family context, we will try to build models to predict whether mental illness will be transmitted across generations or not.
  • FAMILY will also address key ethical and social issues raised by risk prediction for clinical use, such as the right not to know, and the risk of stigma.
  • Lastly, together with the family advocacy and support organisation EUFAMI and the not-for-profit association ESCAP, we will try to increase awareness and foster active engagement of families, and translate new discoveries to patients and mental health care professionals.

Read more

FAMILY translates current barriers into 3 themes of enquiry, with the following 6 project objectives:

Theme 1

Understanding intergenerational transmission of risk

  • Estimate the contribution of genetic and environmental routes of intergenerational transmission of risk from parent to offspring throughout the life course.
  • Identify causal factors underlying genetic and environmental routes of risk transmission and resilience.
Theme 2

Predicting risk of mental illness in a familial context

  • Identify and validate genetic, epigenetic, and brain imaging biomarkers for risk or resilience to mental disease in the family.
  • Develop and validate a multimodal risk prediction model and a normative modelling framework to predict, at the individual level, who is at risk of developing a mental disorder.
Theme 3

Creating societal impact and end-user engagement

  • Map and evaluate social and ethical consequences of risk prediction for clinical use.
  • Increase awareness and foster active engagement of families and translate new discoveries to patients and mental health care professionals.

Impact

Scientific

New breakthrough scientific discoveries on the intergenerational transmission of risk of mental illness and risk prediction within a family context, pushing the field forward towards first clinical implementation of family-based prediction tools by 2035.

Clinical

Ethical considerations regarding risk prediction support mental health care professionals and patients and their families in clinical decision-making. Awareness on the role of transmission of risk of mental health problems stimulates the integration of child/adolescent and adult mental health care services, leading to improved care for high-risk families.

Societal

Improved mental health literacy in vulnerable high-risk families, resulting in increased engagement with their own mental health and earlier recognition of mental health problems, leading to earlier identification and preventive intervention. Improved quality of life of vulnerable high-risk families because of earlier recognition of emerging problems, earlier and focused preventive interventions, and less stigma and discrimination.

Economic

Earlier identification and preventive intervention of mental health problems prevents exacerbation of these problems, resulting in reduced mental health care cost in the longer term.