Understanding Disease Development — The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded $2 million over five years to Dr. Herbert Lachman to fund his research on using induced pluripotent stem cells as a model system to study the underlying molecular and genetic basis of developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism spectrum disorders. The particular molecular genetic process being investigated in this recently funded grant is a phenomenon known as monoallelic expression in which only one of the two copies of a gene is expressed. Dr. Lachman has developed a model revolving around the regulation of monoallelically expressed genes in neurons in the development of schizophrenia. Dr. Lachman is professor in the departments of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and medicine, and an associate professor in the departments of neuroscience and of genetics.
Posted on: Wednesday, July 09, 2014