The Center for Medical Genetics collaborates with the Center for Genetics in Psychiatry, directed by Pablo V. Gejman, M.D. Dr. Gejman is internationally recognized for his research in genetic and environmental factors linked to schizophrenia as well as other psychiatric disorders.
Schizophrenia Genetics Research Program
Dr. Gejman has built a nationally and internationally prominent research program in psychiatric genetics. He heads a cooperative international National Institute of Mental Heath funded study, the largest ever funded by the NIMH, to identify genes that lead to the development of schizophrenia. Dr. Gejman’s major fields of interest are clinical and biological inherited factors in major psychiatric disorders, molecular genetic diversity, psychopharmacology and pharmacogenetics.
Outcomes
Evidence for the existence of susceptibility genes on various human chromosome locations has been found by studying numerous, well-characterized families with schizophrenia. Specific genetic regions have been narrowed down and certain genes implicated in neurobiology have been studied in more detail.
Publications
Suarez BK, Duan J, Sanders AR, Hinrichs AL, Jin CH, Hou C, Buccola NG, Hale N, Weilbaecher AN, Nertney DA, Olincy A, Green S, Schaffer AW, Smith CJ, Hannah DE, Rice JP, Cox NJ, Martinez M, Mowry BJ, Amin F, Silverman JM, Black DW, Byerley WF, Crowe RR, Freedman R, Cloninger CR, Levinson DF, Gejman PV. Genomewide Linkage Scan of 409 European-Ancestry and African American Families with Schizophrenia: Suggestive Evidence of Linkage at 8p23.3-p21.2 and 11p13.1-q14.1 in the Combined Sample. Am J Hum Genet 2006 Feb;78(2):315-33. Epub 2006 Jan 3.
Duan J. Martinez M. Sanders AR. Hou C. Krasner AJ. Schwartz DB. Gejman PV. Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) and schizophrenia: analysis of a US family sample and the evidence in the balance. Psychological Medicine. 2005, 35(11):1599-610.
Sanders AR. Rusu I. Duan J. Vander Molen JE. Hou C. Schwab SG. Wildenauer DB. Martinez M. Gejman PV. Haplotypic association spanning the 22q11.21 genes COMT and ARVCF with schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry. 10(4):353-65, 2005
Duan J. Martinez M. Sanders AR. Hou C. Saitou N. Kitano T. Mowry BJ. Crowe RR. Silverman JM. Levinson DF. Gejman PV. Polymorphisms in the trace amine receptor 4 (TRAR4) gene on chromosome 6q23.2 are associated with susceptibility to schizophrenia. American Journal of Human Genetics. 75(4):624-38, 2004.