Schizophrenic Mice - Genetically Altered Rodents Teach Scientists About Disorder Play audio - click here
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File Source: National Public Radio
File Date: March 3, 2003

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More than two million people in the United States have schizophrenia, yet the disorder remains a medical mystery. Scientists don't know precisely what causes some brains to produce hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking. One reason it's particularly hard to study schizophrenia is that it doesn't seem to occur in animals. But as NPR's Jon Hamilton reports, a small group of scientists at the National Institutes of Health are using genetic engineering to reproduce some of the symptoms of schizophrenia -- in mice. Note: When you click on the link below, a new window will open up on your web browser. To listen to the Audio file, click on the link that says "Morning Edition Radio."

Closed Worlds - Studying the Biology of Isolated Populations Play Audio - click here
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File Source: BBC Radio
File Date: April 15, 2003

In the last few years, Iceland has been put on the biotech map, with the founding of Decode Genetics, a company started by entrepreneurial businessman, Kari Steffanson. He believes that the unique genetic qualities of the Icelandic people, coupled with the meticulous medical and geneological records that the country has kept will lead to the discovery of genes associated with many common diseases such as stroke, diabetes, schizophrenia and heart disease.

Psychiatric Genetics: A Current Perspective Play video - click here
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File Source: UCLA grand rounds
File Date: Nov 28, 2002
Speaker: Kenneth S. Kendler, MD, Director, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics

According to the genetic epidemiologist, a person's risk for psychiatric disorder is made up of three factors: genetic makeup, family environment, and individual environment. Dr. Kendler gives a review of two central paradigms in psychiatric genetics (genetic epidemiology and gene-finding methods), to address the central question of how genes raise a person's risk of developing a psychiatric problem.

The Revolution in Psychiatric Genomics: The Coming Era of New Treatments and Diagnoses
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File Source: UCLA grand rounds
File Date: Oct 30, 2001
Speaker: John Kelsoe, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego.

Although great strides have been made in the last 20 years thanks to the growing field of neuroscience, psychiatrists and patients alike would still like to see drugs with greater efficacy, fewer side effects, more rapid action, and a more predictable effect on patients. Dr. Kelsoe talks about how the genomics field will hopefully usher in some of these changes, introducing a new way of practicing psychiatry in the next 50 years.