1. From Genes to Behavior: Capitalizing on Gene Discovery in Schizophrenia

Joshua Gordon
2017 Schizophrenia Bulletin  
Overall Abstract: Modern genomic approaches have revealed that the structure of genetic predisposition to schizophrenia is incredibly complex. Translating this complexity into comprehensible neurobiology is a daunting challenge. I will present data from a collaborative effort that has taken a reductionist approach, studying the 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome, a rare predisposition factor of large effect size. Using a mouse model of the microdeletion, we have defined a potentially causal chain
more » ... events leading from the microdeletion to deficits in working memory across multiple levels of analysis. I will then discuss whether and how the lessons learned from this neurobiological approach can be applied toward the much more challenging problem of common risk alleles of small effect size. Overall Abstract: For well over a century, psychiatry has struggled to understand how disturbances of brain function give rise to mental illnesses and ply such an understanding in their treatment. With the exception of some fortuitous-and for the most part serendipitous-findings, this effort has all but failed. I will argue that this is for 3 reasons: (1) the preponderance of
doi:10.1093/schbul/sbx021.000 fatcat:lvaaimd6efgq3lrqlnawx77l3y