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The Conte Center for Neuroscience of Mental Disorders investigates the overarching hypothesis that interactions between specific genes and environmental triggers alter the development of specific parts of the brain, and the disturbed function of these parts underlie the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Key Objectives
• To establish a multi-institutional collaboration among scientists with special expertise in psychiatry, neurobiology, neuroimaging and biomedical engineering
• To further develop computer software to help define the neurobiology of neuropsychiatric disorders
• To test specific scientific questions and to generate new questions related to the causes and consequences of neuroanatomical abnormalities in people with schizophrenia
• To further define the early development of schizophrenia. In the context of five related projects supported by three Conte Center cores, we propose to test the overarching hypothesis that genetic factors lead to a cascade of neurodevelopment irregularities that later show up as abnormalities of brain structure, thinking, and psychopathology in people with schizophrenia.
Several themes carry across our work. The first theme is embedding concepts of brain function within a precise neuroanatomical framework. New tools for high-dimensional brain mapping provide this framework. A second theme is the focus on the same distributed network of brain structures. Thirdly, common cognitive concepts and paradigms are used across studies of human and non-human primate subjects.
Collaborators
The Conte Center is a collaborative effort involving four national universities:
• Conte Center, Washington University School of Medicine
• Yale University
• Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University
• University of Tennessee
Projects
The Conte Center consists of five interrelated projects:
Project 1 studies the structure of the brain.
Project 2 studies how our brains function.
Project 3 studies what happens to brain structure and function when neurodevelopment is disrupted.
Project 4 studies how neurons work while we’re remembering things.
Project 5 studies the genes (DNA) that control how our brain is put together.
Overview of Projects 1 and 2
Here at Washington University, we are looking for participation in Projects 1 and 2. These projects work together to measure structure and function in a coordinated way. We measure structure by using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to collect detailed images of participant’s brains. We measure function by conducting clinical interviews and cognitive tests. Some of the tests are taken while in the MRI scanner. Overview:
• Collect high resolution MRI scans, then measure selected brain structure characteristics
• Collect clinical and cognitive data
• Compare all data between: people with schizophrenia, siblings of people with schizophrenia, controls (healthy individuals), siblings of controls
We are interested in gathering and comparing data between four groups:
• People with schizophrenia
• Their siblings (since they share genes)
• Controls (healthy individuals)
• Siblings of controls
Potential Societal Impact
• Improve understanding of the genetic and environmental cause of schizophrenia
• Identify biological events associated with the onset of this illness
• Facilitate early intervention and treatment, allowing for better outcomes |
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