Dr. Kendler in Psychiatry and Dr. Eaves in Human Genetics have developed a multidisciplinary research team in psychiatric genetics at MCV over the past decade. The team of ten scientists has demonstrated expertise in psychiatric phenomenology, assess-ment and diagnosis; psychiatric epidemiology; statistical analysis of genetic data; and gene mapping. They have conducted large-scale field studies in the US and abroad, prominent examples being the Virginia Twin Study and the study of schizophrenia in Ireland. The research program has addressed a large number of psychiatric disorders, including affective disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, bulimia, antisocial personality disorder, and substance abuse disorders. The applicant argues that the further development of the program is now impeded by a lack of infrastructure support. As examples, senior faculty are overburdened with fiscal management and personnel supervision; junior faculty are burdened with problems of database management and routine aspects of data collection and analysis. Resources to link the large Virginia Twin Study projects are lacking. Support for the molecular genetics laboratory to keep up with developments in that field is needed. Computer hardware and database software are strained by the large data sets that have been gathered. The applicant identifies 7 areas where infrastructure support is needed: administration, salaries for women and minorities, faculty training, database management and biostatistical support, genetics laboratory support, twin ascertainment and follow-up, and computing services. In addition, they would like resources to fund pilot projects. The applicant enumerates future research goals of the program and argues that the RISP grant is needed to accomplish them. These include linking the MCV adult and adolescent twin studies, developing new data analysis strategies for mapping susceptibility loci, expanding the Twins studies to include African-Americans, and others.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Resource-Related Research Projects (R24)
Project #
5R24MH054150-02
Application #
2519781
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (SRCM (20))
Project Start
1996-09-01
Project End
2001-08-31
Budget Start
1997-09-01
Budget End
1998-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1997
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Virginia Commonwealth University
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Richmond
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
23298
Kendler, Kenneth S; Myers, John; Prescott, Carol A (2002) The etiology of phobias: an evaluation of the stress-diathesis model. Arch Gen Psychiatry 59:242-8
Kendler, K S; Myers, J; Prescott, C A et al. (2001) The genetic epidemiology of irrational fears and phobias in men. Arch Gen Psychiatry 58:257-65
Fanous, A; Gardner, C; Walsh, D et al. (2001) Relationship between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and schizotypal symptoms in nonpsychotic relatives. Arch Gen Psychiatry 58:669-73
Karkowski, L M; Prescott, C A; Kendler, K S (2000) Multivariate assessment of factors influencing illicit substance use in twins from female-female pairs. Am J Med Genet 96:665-70
Prescott, C A; Kendler, K S (2000) Influence of ascertainment strategy on finding sex differences in genetic estimates from twin studies of alcoholism. Am J Med Genet 96:754-61
Kendler, K S; Myers, J M; Neale, M C (2000) A multidimensional twin study of mental health in women. Am J Psychiatry 157:506-13
Prescott, C A; Kendler, K S (1999) Genetic and environmental contributions to alcohol abuse and dependence in a population-based sample of male twins. Am J Psychiatry 156:34-40
Prescott, C A; Aggen, S H; Kendler, K S (1999) Sex differences in the sources of genetic liability to alcohol abuse and dependence in a population-based sample of U.S. twins. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 23:1136-44
Prescott, C A; Kendler, K S (1999) Age at first drink and risk for alcoholism: a noncausal association. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 23:101-7
Kendler, K S; Karkowski, L M; Prescott, C A (1999) Fears and phobias: reliability and heritability. Psychol Med 29:539-53