Probing Genetic Causes of Schizophrenia

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Video by Harry Moxley

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine will seek to identify the genetic causes of schizophrenia as part of a major project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to better understand how genetic variation in brain cells affects human health and disease.

Mike McConnell, PhD, of UVA’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, will use a cutting-edge technique known as single-cell genome sequencing to examine brain samples both from people who had schizophrenia and a control group of people who did not. The technique allows scientists to examine the genetic makeup of a single cell, a vital tool in the wake of the discovery by McConnell and his collaborators that the neurons in the brain are unexpectedly varied in their genetic makeup.

That variety of genomes within the brain – or “mosaicism,” as it’s called – could hold the secret to schizophrenia, and may explain why researchers have found it so difficult to determine the genes responsible. “Right now, the genetic origins of schizophrenia are incredibly elusive,” McConnell said. “By looking at the brain and by understanding the genetic causes, we would hope to make better drugs or have better insights into therapeutic regimens to help these patients.”