Much has been learned in the last five years. For most people, genetic risk involves at least hundreds of very small effects spread across the genome. But some individuals carry rare mutations that have a larger impact on personal risk. More than a hundred of these variants are now known . These map to genes in some predicted molecular pathways (dopamine, glutamate) but also to unexpected pathways like calcium signalling, immune function and chromatin remodelling. This new research terrain will deepen understanding and offers new therepaeutic avenues to improve patient care.

 

The Psychosis Research Group is based at the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute but works with other TCD Life Science Institutes, the COGGENE Group at NUI Galway and internationally with the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC), the Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.  We have published more than 200 international peer-reviewed scientific papers. Our funders include Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Health Research Board (HRB), the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute of Health (US).