Aim
We aim at finding schizophrenia genes by genotyping a large sample of schizophrenia patients for 317k SNPs. The isolation of SZ susceptibility variants allows for the study of whether they contribute to other psychiatric disorders or risk of certain endophenotypes. Data on deficits on the smooth pursuit eye movement and antisaccade tasks as well as cognitive impairments will be generated and correlated with genetic markers.
The expected outputs are to identify phenotypic markers for schizophrenia and to shed light on how variation in expressivity is modulated by environment and genetic variants.
Furthermore we will examine whether cannabis use affects
age at onset of SZ and whether reported and novel genetic
at-risk or protective variants may moderate the interaction
between cannabis use and subsequent
risk of developing schizophrenia
Expected results:
1-10 susceptibility genes for schizophrenia,
their effect on expressivity and interaction with environmental
factors
Potential applications:
Diagnostics and therapeutics for schizophrenia