The Schizophrenia Research Laboratory (jointly supported by Neuroscience Research Australia, the Schizophrenia Research Institute and the University of New South Wales) endeavours to delineate the basis of schizophrenia, a devastating mental illness which first manifests during adolescence, by bridging the molecular neurodevelopmental and cognitive neuronal systems approaches.
Schizophrenia causes profound withdrawal from family and friends, decreases in intellectual ability, hallucinations and delusions. Our view is that a derailment of the normal maturational program that occurs during the second decade of life in humans underlies schizophrenia. However, very little is known about the normal cellular and molecular developmental changes that occur in the human brain at this important time and how these changes may influence cognitive processes and the development of schizophrenia.
Our primary focus is to understand how genetic variants of hormone receptors and growth factors impact the development and function of the primate cerebral cortex during adolescence and how these factors may be altered in schizophrenia. Genetic variants of several developmentally important genes have been associated with schizophrenia, however the mechanism by which these variants lead to the disease is unknown.
Currently, we are exploring the molecular mechanism of how alterations in estrogen receptor and neuregulin may act to bring about schizophrenia by examining human brain tissue and primary neuronal culture. We are also directly analyzing human genomic DNA and performing comparative genomic studies that are aimed at more clearly pinpointing DNA sequence variations in susceptibility genes that may be critical in determining the vulnerability to schizophrenia.
We are also testing how the pubertal hormonal surge influences the expression of susceptibility genes and how this surge may drive normal molecular and social development of the non-human primate.
Click here to access Prof Shannon Weickert's research papers:
Cyndi's research is focused on the molecular developmental neurobiology of schizophrenia. She earned a PhD in Biomedical Science at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City and completed postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health rising to the level of Unit Chief of Molecules in the Neurobiology and Development of Schizophrenia Unit. Her awards include the Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award, NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence, Independent Investigator Award and two Young Investigator Awards from NARSD. She has lectured throughout the world and contributed to over 60 publications.
(CASSI) Clinical Trial of a Hormonal Modulator in SchizophreniaCognitive and Affective Symptoms in Schizophrenia Intervention (CASSI) Trial Of all the various symptoms associated with schizophrenia, impairments to cognition function are generally resistant to
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Enhancing Neurogenesis in Adult Primate BrainSince brain disease often involves neuronal death, research into strategies to restore neuronal numbers could lead to improved function and recovery in patients. |
Neuregulin Dependent Neuronal Migration and SchizophreniaGenetic and environmental factors combine to increase risk for developing schizophrenia. The key neurobiological events in which risk genes participate during development are not understood. |
The Effects of Sex hormones During Puberty on Neurocognition in an Animal Model of SchizophreniaThe aim of the project is to determine the role of pubertal testosterone in the development of cortical volume and cognitive function during adolescence in monkeys. |
Bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (Sz) share dysfunction in prefrontal inhibitory brain systems, yet exhibit distinct forms of affective disturbance.
Excitement and controversy have followed neuregulin (NRG1) since its discovery as a putative schizophrenia susceptibility gene; however, the mechanism of action of the associated risk haplotype (HapIC
An increase in apoptotic events may underlie neuropathology in schizophrenia.
