The World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics is an annual international meeting that attracts both young and senior researchers actively pursuing the genetic mechanisms for serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, manic-depression, autism, and alcohol abuse. The Congress is conducted by The International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG). Four full-days are devoted to plenary lectures from senior scientists with expertise in areas that are needed for this type of research and to sessions that consist of reports on new, never before presented data on a wide-range of genetic topics related to psychiatric illness. Teaching workshops on timely topics are also provided. The purpose of the meeting is to bring together scientists of multiple disciplines with an interest in psychiatric genetics (research psychiatrists, neuroscientists, molecular geneticists, mathematical geneticists and epidemiologists) in order to facilitate progress in the field with discussions and debates about new data and how to proceed with future studies. The meetings are held in North America and Europe in alternating years and less frequently in Asia and/or Australia if sufficient numbers of investigators are within these continents. The purpose of the present proposal is to provide funds to enable young investigators, particularly PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, to participate in these meetings and make the meeting an invaluable educational experience for all that attend. *Note: The ISPG was founded in 1992 as a non-profit corporation to provide the structure for conducting annual international congresses. All ISPG board members oversee each annual congress. Its founder and secretary/treasurer (LE DeLisi) is a full-time professor at New York University (NYU). Thus, NYU is sponsoring this proposal.
