The Schizophrenia Genome Project

The Schizophrenia Genome Project is a project aimed at identifying all inherited elements important in schizophrenia within 3 years. The project is a joint undertaking involving the The National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, the MIND Institute, Albuquerque, NM, and partners (Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Minnesota, and University of New Mexico).

Welcome to the project website, designed to capture data and results so that researchers can view and compare project data and variant analysis results going forward. The links to the right provide access into the data and results available at this time.

Schizophrenia is a "complex" disorder in which inherited elements are believed to be a significant factor. Previous studies have identified some inherited elements but the most common, important contributors remain unknown. Inherited elements in schizophrenia are population-specific; as such, our focus is on local populations.

This project will yield several benefits to New Mexico families and individuals with schizophrenia, including:

• New diagnostic tests for early detection and individualized treatment.
• New drug targets: the starting point for therapies directed against causes.
• Demonstrating a strong genetic basis will decrease the stigma of schizophrenia.

The Schizophrenia Genome Project will use comprehensive methods that employ state-of-the-art MIND and NCGR capabilities:

1. Select ~100 brain imaging and medical characteristics that represent schizophrenia.
2. Measure these in MIND’s database of 340 schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.
3. Sequence genomes of ~100 of these and identify all genome variants and mutations.
4. Evaluate associations between schizophrenia characteristics and genome variants.
5. Confirm findings in a large, second set of patients.

Search Gene Expression

Candidate Genes

Case Overview

Alpheus™

Schizophrenia Genome Project