Genes 2 Brains 2 Mind 2 Me

Daniel Weinberger and company have a new installment in-press at Biological Psychiatry in their epic program to untangle the genetic basis of schizophrenia – “Heritability of Brain Morphology Related to Schizophrenia: A Large-Scale Automated Magnetic Resonance Imaging Segmentation Study.” Like all complex illness, schizophrenia is regulated by a variety of environmental sources (perinatal complications, stress & substance abuse are a few) and equally regulated by heritable factors. Although several specific genes for schizophrenia have been painstakingly identified, the genes are expressed widely throughout the brain – making it difficult to pinpoint where in the brain the gene interacts with the environment to exert its detrimental effects. To solve this problem, Weinberger and colleagues pioneered a method known as imaging-genetics where they look at how individual genetic differences correlate with differences in brain structure or functional activity (if you ever have a chance to volunteer for an fMRI brain imaging study – go for it – it’ll be one of the top 10 weirdest experiences of your life). In their latest report, the team pioneers a new “fully-automated whole brain segmentation” technique to show that the genetic factors that put individuals at risk may be functioning vis-a-vis the hippocampus and neocortex. This narrows the search space a lot! and is a major step forward in beginning to localize where in the brain the genetic risk originates.