ENIGMA-PTSD

The PGC-ENIGMA PTSD working group focuses on advancing the understanding of traumatic stress and posttraumatic stress disorder through international collaborative meta- and mega-analyses of neuroimaging data. The group was founded in 2014 by Dr. Rajendra Morey, and is co-affiliated with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)-PTSD.

The current co-chairs are Dr. Delin Sun (Duke University, Durham, USA), Dr. Jennifer Stevens (Emory University, Atlanta, USA), Dr. Mark Logue (National Center for PTSD, VA Boston, USA), and Dr. Caroline Nievergelt (University of California, San Diego, USA). Dr. Rajendra Morey serves as Emeritus Chair.
 

Delin Sun headshot

Dr. Delin Sun

 Jennifer Stevens headshot

Dr. Jennifer Stevens

 Mark Logue headshot

Dr. Mark Logue

 Caroline Nievergelt headshot

Dr. Caroline Nievergelt

 Rajendra Morey headshot

Dr. Rajendra Morey

Publications

The group has conducted harmonization and mega-analyses of cortical morphology, white matter microstructure, and resting state fMRI. Select examples of this work include:

  • Logue, M. W., Van Rooij, S. J., Dennis, E. L., Davis, S. L., Hayes, J. P., Stevens, J. S., ... & Morey, R. A. (2018). Smaller hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stress disorder: a multisite ENIGMA-PGC study: subcortical volumetry results from posttraumatic stress disorder consortia. Biological Psychiatry, 83(3), 244-253. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000632231731990X
  • Wang, X., Xie, H., Chen, T., Cotton, A. S., Salminen, L. E., Logue, M. W., ... Morey, R. A. & Liberzon, I. (2021). Cortical volume abnormalities in posttraumatic stress disorder: An ENIGMA-psychiatric genomics consortium PTSD workgroup mega-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry, 26(8), 4331-4343. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-020-00967-1
  • Dennis, E. L., Disner, S. G., Fani, N., Salminen, L. E., Logue, M., Clarke, E. K., ... & Morey, R. A. (2021). Altered white matter microstructural organization in posttraumatic stress disorder across 3047 adults: Results from the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD consortium. Molecular Psychiatry, 26(8), 4315-4330. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-019-0631-x
  • Hinojosa, C.A., Sun, D., Haswell, C., Baird, C.L., Hussain, A., Sendi, M., …, Stevens, J.S., Morey, R.A., & van Rooij, S.V.R. (In press). Resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala and hippocampus in PTSD – results from the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD working group. American Journal of Psychiatry.

Additionally, the PTSD working group has contributed tools for several landmark ENIGMA projects including the RS-FMRI working group’s development of HalfPIPE, and statistical tools to facilitate harmonized voxel-wise analyses across data from multiple laboratories. Examples include:

  • Waller, L., Erk, S., Pozzi, E., Toenders, Y. J., Haswell, C. C., Büttner, M., Thompson, P.M., Schmaal, L., *Morey, R.A., *Walter, H., & *Veer, I. M. (2022). ENIGMA HALFpipe: Interactive, reproducible, and efficient analysis for resting‐state and task‐based fMRI data. Human Brain Mapping, 43(9), 2727-2742. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hbm.25829 *equal contributors
  • Steele, N., Huggins, A.A., Morey, R.A., Hussain, A., Russell, C., Suarez-Jiminez, B., Pozzi, E., … & Sun, D. (2025). Image-based meta- and mega-analysis (IBMMA): A unified framework for large-scale, multi-site, neuroimaging data analysis. Neuroimage, 322, 121554. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811925005579

IBMMA software and further documentation are available here: https://github.com/sundelinustc/IBMMA
 
 

Further Information & Contact

Further information on group members and active projects can be found here: https://pgc-ptsd.org/imaging-workgroup/

We welcome new collaborators to join our group! To inquire, and for all other contacts, please reach out to Dr. Jennifer Stevens (jennifer.stevens@emory.edu) and Dr. Delin Sun (ds366@duke.edu).
 
 

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