Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry

The Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry explores the genetic basis of mental disorders occurring across the entire lifespan such as affective disorders, schizophrenia, ADHD, personality disorders, and addiction disorders. Investigation of the genetic basis of response to therapy (pharmacogenetics), and analysis of gene-environment and gene-gene interactions in the development of mental disorders are other major areas of research. This work involves the decoding of the genetic basis of complex endophenotypes such as personality dimensions and correlates of neuronal plasticity.

In order to realize its various goals, the Department has established a comprehensive and extensively characterized sample of patients and their relatives for formal genetic and molecular genetic analyses. In order to facilitate the flexible collection and management of data, the Department has developed a computer-assisted Phenotype Characterization Inventory that contains over 2,000 items.  The Department runs “BioPsy”, the Biobank for Psychiatric Diseases  in which currently more than 65.000 samples are stored. It acts as the central platform for biobanking and genotyping of various projects at the CIMH, such as those conducted within the framework of the SFB636 and of other collaborations.