Project Summary

Fruhling Rijsdijk, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of King's College London, notes that structural brain abnormalities, as measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), are the most extensively studied endophenotypes in schizophrenia. Abnormal brain volumes are consistently reported in schizophrenia. While, abnormal mean values in unaffected family members (co-twins) of patients as compared to unaffected controls suggest a genetic relationship with schizophrenia, a genetic correlation cannot be quantified. Dr. Rijsdijk proposes a formal model-fitting method in which heritabilities of brain volumes and the genetic correlation with schizophrenia are estimated in twin/sibling samples. The aims of this proposal are to (i) re-process MRI scans according to a standard calibration method in order to make the data comparable; (ii) to apply genetic model-fitting analyses to the combined sample. This sample has more than 80% power to detect a genetic correlation as small as .20 in the presence of moderate brain volume heritabilities of around 40%.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

Search Again