Project Summary

Atsushi Kamiya, M.D., Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2007) of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will explore links between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a disorder characterized by abnormalities that include neuropsychiatric symptoms. Several BBS genes, including one called PCM1, are located at chromosomal sites linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The proteins the genes encode localize in the centrosome, a cell region involved in neuronal architecture. Dr. Kamiya’s laboratory has shown that DISC1, a suspected gene for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, also acts at the centrosome, and binds with PCM1. Dr. Kamiya wants to learn how these genes may interact in susceptibility to brain disorders.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Unipolar

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