Hunter DNA Bank for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders

Investigators Dr Carmel Loughland, Dr Paul Tooney, Professor Rodney Scott, and Professor Vaughan Carr

The DNA Bank for schizophrenia research is a collaboration between the Clinical Measurement and Neurobiology Panels within NISAD, and the Medical Genetics Laboratory in the Hunter Area Pathology Service (HAPS). The DNA Bank has been established in the first instance in the Hunter region, where sufficiently large samples of people with schizophrenia and their families are located. Volunteers with schizophrenia, their first-degree relatives and people without a personal or family history of mental illness will be recruited through the resources of the NISAD Schizophrenia Research Register. The facilities of the Medical Genetics laboratory, situated at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, will be used to process the blood samples. Genomic DNA, RNA and lymphocytes will be isolated and stored. The samples will then be made available for research projects investigating the genetics of schizophrenia. Researchers wishing to use these samples would be required to apply to the DNA Bank for Schizophrenia Research for permission, giving details of the proposed project. With respect to current research, the DNA Bank for Schizophrenia Research will provide valuable material for studies of gene expression profiles using microarray technology currently being investigated by P. Tooney and R. Scott. In addition, it is foreseeable that many other studies could be facilitated by such a resource including family linkage analysis and studies of the inactivation of the X-chromosome in psychoses and other brain disorders. Thus the DNA Bank for Schizophrenia Research will provide the material necessary to conduct studies that will further our understanding of the genetic component(s) that contribute to the cause of schizophrenia. On a larger scale, the systematic approach of collecting socio-demographic, clinical, MRI (both functional and structural) and ERP data combined with the collection of genetic information on volunteers from the NISAD Schizophrenia Research Register has the potential to lead to the development of better diagnosis, treatments and preventative strategies in the future.

Funding from NISAD and additional funding from HMRI