This is an application for an ADAMHA Scientist Development Award for Clinicians. My overall career goal is to gain expertise in the molecular neuroanatomic and neuropathologic investigation of neuropsychiatric illness, with an emphasis on schizophrenia. During the tenure of the requested award I expect to: 1) acquire further skills in basic neuropathologic diagnosis; 2) develop technical expertise with qualitative and quantitative immunohistochemical methods for characterizing brains of patients with schizophrenia and controls; 3) learn techniques for biochemical analysis of brain tissue and for generating monoclonal antibodies; and 4) expand skills in data analysis and the integration of postmortem and antemortem findings. These goals will be accomplished in the course of a research plan whose aims are to: 1) investigate the cytoarchitecture and molecular character of neurons in limbic temporal structures in schizophrenia; and 2) characterize normal human fetal molecular development of these brain regions by determining the timing of cytoskeletal and synaptic protein expression and establishment of neuronal polarity and laminar position. By this research I hope to extend and clarify the abnormalities that have been suggested by studies using traditional neuropathologic methods and to explore the thesis of schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder.
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