Project Summary

Cynthia Shannon Weickert, Ph.D. (Independent Investigator 2004) of National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institute of Health, proposes studying the role of neuregulin, a recently discovered schizophrenia susceptibility gene, in relation to neuron birth and neuron differentiation in the postnatal monkey cortex. Nothing is currently known about how neurogenesis may be influenced by diseased forms of the schizophrenia genes. By studying the gene in the young monkey brains, researchers, she says, will be able to determine if postnatal neurogenesis is a process whereby genes predisposing to schizophrenia can influence cells growing into the cortex. Preliminary data shows that the genesis of newly born cells in the primate brain can be dramatically altered, suggesting that neurogenesis may be a target through which intervention can be targeted.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

Search Again