Welcome to the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program (GCAP) website. GCAP was launched in January, 2003 as part of the National Institutes of Mental Health Intramural Research Program (NIMH IRP) to solve the mystery of genetic predisposition to psychosis, develop new methods for early diagnosis and prevention, and discover new treatments that will cure people suffering from this devastating condition. Our objectives are to fully characterize:

1) neurobiological mechanisms related to susceptibility genes for schizophrenia and related clinical disorders;

2) genetic variation in aspects of cognition and emotionality associated with schizophrenia; and

3) small molecular targets for novel therapies.

Investigators studying schizophrenia have made enormous discoveries within the past two years, including preliminary identification of at least ten genes that increase susceptibility for this illness (Straub and Weinberger Biol Psychiatry 2006). At least five of these genes have been established as schizophrenia risk genes by investigators in the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch (http://cbdb.nimh.nih.gov) of the NIMH Intramural Research Program. These discoveries represent a sea change in research about mental illness, as the genetic findings transcend phenomenology and represent — at long last — clues to basic causation. It has also been shown by the same investigators in the IRP that each of these genes affects brain processing of cognitive and emotional information involving specific brain circuits and connections that are implicated in the neurobiology of schizophrenia. Since each of these genes is an entry point into a molecular pathway related to brain development, plasticity, and learning, fully characterizing the cellular, molecular, and systems impact of variations in these genes will open dramatic new opportunities for valid diagnosis, pre-morbid prevention, and cure. It is a reasonable expectation that with adequate resources and commitment by NIMH, effective new therapies and new approaches to diagnosis and prevention will be realized within the next decade. Also, as many of the genes and cellular mechanisms by which they impact on brain functions related to psychosis and cognition will overlap with other conditions, (e.g. aging, drug abuse, depression, and neurological illnesses), new approaches to therapies for these disorders will likely be discovered as a by product of this effort.

A unique feature of this Program is that its diverse scientific resources will be focused on a highly specific scientific agenda, that is to acquire the critical biological information about the susceptibility genes associated with schizophrenia and related illnesses.

This website will provide you with information about our current research projects by providing news and facts about our research objectives and findings, and recent publications. We hope you find our website easy to use. If while browsing you find any problems, please contact our webmaster.