(artwork by Carrie Lee Pledger, CBDB IRTA 2001)
(artwork by Carrie Lee Pledger, CBDB IRTA 2001)
CBDB is part of the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, NIH. It is the principle research laboratory in the newly created (2003) Genes, Cognition, and Psychosis Program (GCAP) of the NIMH. After twelve years of residing on the pastoral grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital, in Southeast Washington, CBDB moved back to the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. in 1998. While the unique setting of St. Elizabeths is irreplaceable, we have occupied beautiful new laboratories and clinic spaces that were created for us, and we are in the mainstream of NIH life.
CBDB is a multidisciplinary neuroscience laboratory in which basic and clinical scientists work side by side exploring neural mechanisms and models of mental and cognitive function and of neuropsychiatric illness. Experiments are performed at many levels of inquiry, from basic molecular biology of the gene to clinical examinations of patients. A major area of investigation of this laboratory is the genetic mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and its treatment.
TThe laboratory is organized as a multi-disciplinary team of investigators with a common mission: to identify and fully characterize basic genetic and neurobiological mechanisms of schizophrenia and related cognitive and emotional disorders. The various components of this effort are centered various different units or divisions represented by groups of investigators, at various levels of training and experience, working on related experiments. The Director of the Branch and of the GCAP Program is Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D. The various groups and units include:
The Clinical Studies division, headed by Michael Egan, M.D., conducts inpatient and outpatient studies primarily of patients with schizophrenia, and is focused around a large sibling pair and parent-patient trio analysis of genes related to various biological traits (intermediate phenotypes) associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia. Clinical studies include therapeutic trials of drugs targeted individually based on genotype.
The molecular genetics and bioinformatics group headed by Richard Straub, Ph.D. works seamlessly with each of the other divisions and groups to performing molecular analyses of genes and to identify genetic associations to clinical diagnoses and various biological aspects of brain information processing. Investigators in the clinical division and in the molecular genetics lab have identified variations in more than six genes associated with schizophrenia and have characterized the biologic effects of these genetic variations at the level of brain function in affected and in unaffected subjects.
The neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience division, headed by Terry Goldberg, Ph.D, conducts clinical and neuroimaging studies of basic cognitive processes implicated in the biology of schizophrenia and its treatment and in the biology of genetic risk for schizophrenia. Investigators in the clinical division and in the molecular genetics lab have identified variations in more than six genes associated with schizophrenia and have characterized the biologic effects of these genetic variations at the level of brain function in affected and in unaffected subjects.
The neuropathology division headed by Joel Kleinman, M.D.,Ph.D., conducts a variety of molecular studies of gene and protein expression in postmortem tissue of patients with psychiatric and drug abuse disorders. Investigators in this division have identified molecular changes in dopamine and glutamate neurons directly related to genetic variations associated with risk for schizophrenia and working with the genetic group, have identified variations in expression in human brain of susceptibility genes genes for schizophrenia.
The neuroimaging division, headed by Daniel Weinberger, M.D., Karen Berman, M.D., and Richard Coppola, D.Sc., uses various neuroimaging techniques, such as EEG, PET, fMRI, MRSI, and MEG, to probe relevant physiologic, neurochemical, and neuropharmacological aspects of schizophrenia and of genetic risk for schizophrenia; and develops imaging phenotypes to characterize genetic mechanisms of risk for schizophrenia and of variation in normal cognitive and emotional information processing in human brain. Investigators in this division have pioneered a new application of neuroimaging, called imaging genomics, and have identified the first genetic mechanism of variation in human temperament.
The Unit for Systems Neuroscience in Psychiatry (chief: Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, MD PhD) uses multimodal neuroimaging, modeling, and interventional approaches to characterize functional brain circuits underlying genomic mechanisms of cognition and risk for psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia.
The animal modeling division, headed by Barbara Lipska, Ph.D., explores in animals, including rats and genetically engineered mice, basic molecular mechanisms related to neurodevelopmental changes implicated in the brains of patients with schizophrenia and to genetic mechanisms implicated in risk for schizophrenia. Investigators in this division developed the first widely utilized high-fidelity animal model of schizophrenia, based on an early development disconnection of hippocampal and prefrontal cortices.
You can explore more detailed information relating to the laboratory and the workings of its various divisions in several ways. A comprehensive overview of the branch gives the most recent perspective on how the various programs fit together. This review is a bit dated and was written before the recent genetic discoveries. Hot papers lists recent major publications from the laboratory. The Program page describes the various research projects that comprise the main areas of interest broken down mostly along methodological lines. The Staff page points to individual information. Publications lists recent papers and points to those that are available online. The Image area gives a brief tour of our neuroimaging work and access to some online image data.
Overview 2004
Hot papers
Programs
Staff profiles and home pages
Publications
Images
In patient program
Sibling Study
NIMH Brain Tissue Collection
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Updated June 28, 2005
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Dr. Richard Coppola. Thank you!