This proposal is to request support for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled """"""""The Molecular Basis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder"""""""", organized by Pamela Sklar, David Porteous and Christopher Ross, which will be held in Keystone, Colorado from March 6 - 10, 2009. In this meeting we bring together experts in a range of disciplines, including genetics, neurobiology, cell and developmental biology, psychiatry, and chemical biology, to discuss the molecular bases of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The time is opportune, since new methods in genetics are identifying plausible candidate genes, which can be studied by sophisticated techniques of cell biology and neuroscience, in both laboratory and clinical settings. Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are severe psychiatric syndromes characterized by mood and cognitive disorders and psychosis. Both genetic and environmental factors are believed to contribute. New findings in genetics and neuroscience will likely help redefine the phenotypes, and make possible the development of new therapeutic targets. We will emphasize critical assessment of methods and results. This meeting will first explore emerging data from genetics implicating new genes and genetic variation in disease. Second, the current status of the epidemiology, including environmental factors, and boundaries of the disorders, will be explored. Third, the genetics and neurobiology of several current candidate genes and pathways will be presented, with an emphasis on integrating and evaluating the genetic and neurobiological evidence. Fourth, since these are brain diseases that may share neurodevelopmental abnormalities, the relevance of advances in neurogenesis, fast-evolving brain genes, and cerebral circuitry development will be discussed. Finally, prospects for new approaches to therapeutics will be covered. The overall goal of this meeting is to integrate molecular studies across basic and clinical disciplines and facilitate the development of new approaches.
Bipolar disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) are severe psychiatric syndromes characterized by mood and cognitive disorders and psychosis. Both genetic and environmental factors are believed to contribute. New findings in genetics and neuroscience will likely help redefine the phenotypes, and make possible the development of new therapeutic targets. The Keystone Symposia meeting on The Molecular Basis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder will emphasize critical assessment of methods and results.
