Schizophrenia Research Forum Omnibus

November 7, 2013November 7, 2013michelesolis

Here I post a backlog of news stories I’ve written for Schizophrenia Research Forum since March 2013 — 30 in all!

For me, highlights include two landmark studies finding common genetic roots among different psychiatric disorders (Landmark GWAS Links Different Disorders To Same SNPs 3/7/13, and Substantial Genetic Overlaps Measured Between Psychiatric Disorders 8/20/13), the CLARITY technique that reveals intricate details of brain structure (Brain Anatomy Revealed With CLARITY 3/10/13), and an interesting idea about how delusions remain so fixed in schizophrenia (Delusions Linked to Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processes 9/23/13).

The remaining stories are listed here:
Dopamine Signals Stall Dendritic Spine Formation in Young Mice 10/15/13
Data Support Kraepelinian Boundary Between Psychotic Disorders 10/9/13
Monkey Model of Schizophrenia Debuts 9/26/13
Altered Connections Between Cortex and Striatum Mark Psychosis Risk 9/17/13
Summer of Salience: Insula Fingered in Schizophrenia 9/10/13
Ambitious Genetic Integration Analysis of Schizophrenia Points to Early Brain Development 8/2/13
Can Experimentally “Created” Memories Help Explain Delusions? 7/31/13
DISC1 Tied to Motivation, Oxidative Stress in Mice 7/16/13
Neurexin Splicing Exerts Control Across the Synapse 7/11/13
Methamphetamine Points to Reward-Learning Deficits Underlying Psychosis 7/10/13
Schizophrenia and Bipolar With Psychosis Share Cognition, Connectivity 7/5/13
ADHD and Schizophrenia Share Some Genetic Risk 6/28/13
Can a Simple Amino Acid Treat Schizophrenia? 6/25/13
Brain Anomalies in Schizophrenia Arise Early, Degrade Connectivity 6/18/13
Surprise Signals: Optogenetics Links Dopamine to Prediction Errors 6/10/13
Schizophrenia-like Nrg1 Overabundance Repaired in Adult Mice 6/3/13
Perineuronal Nets Protect Interneurons Linked to Schizophrenia 5/17/13
Sodium Nitroprusside Rapidly Quells Schizophrenia Symptoms 5/10/13
Family Study Replicates Genetic Signals for Schizophrenia 4/19/13
ENCODE Explained to the Rest of Us 4/11/13
Dissecting Phenotype to Approach Genetics of Schizophrenia 4/4/13
Dialing Down Thalamus Disrupts Synchrony, Cognition 3/29/13
The Structure of Bias at Serotonin Receptors 3/26/13
Divide and Conquer: Isolating Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia 3/20/13
MIR137 Associated With Age of Onset, Brain Structure in Schizophrenia 3/18/13
Genetics Roundup: Motley Crew of Variants Kicks Off 2013 3/12/13

Brain scanners turn to mice

January 28, 2013January 30, 2013michelesolis

Mice carrying a truncated form of DISC1, a gene related to psychiatric illness, also show defects in the dopamine system akin to those found in schizophrenia. The study, published online January 11 in Human Molecular Genetics, is the first to apply positron emission tomography (PET) to an animal model for psychiatric disorders.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Dissecting cognition at the synapse

December 13, 2012January 3, 2013michelesolis

Two studies from the United Kingdom, published December 2 in Nature Neuroscience, use genetics and mouse-friendly touchscreens to dissect the contributions of different synaptic proteins to cognition. Several of these proteins are targets of research for schizophrenia.

Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

WCPG 2012 — Phenotype and function in schizophrenia genomics

November 6, 2012January 9, 2013michelesolis

At one of the last talks of the 20th World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, held in Hamburg, Germany, Trevor Robbins of University of Cambridge urged the field to pay careful attention to individual features of a disorder, as well as their component parts (“intermediate phenotypes” or, if inherited, “endophenotypes”). Robbins argued that this focus could break psychiatric diseases into more tractable pieces, leading to clearer diagnoses, cleaner genetic studies and clinical trials, and earlier detection.

Read this meeting report at Schizophrenia Research Forum.

WCPG 2012 — Animal models for psychiatric disorders?

October 23, 2012January 9, 2013michelesolis

Though psychiatric diseases are uniquely human, they have aspects that can be fruitfully modeled in animals, according to Tuesday’s plenary speakers at the 20th World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics held in Hamburg, Germany, 14-18 October.