Psychiatric Disease Program
The underlying biology of psychiatric disease remains largely a mystery. The Broad's Psychiatric Disease Program aims to unravel the molecular basis of psychiatric disease, with the ultimate aim of improving diagnosis, treatment and, if possible, prevention. The primary emphasis is on bipolar disease, schizophrenia, and major depression, illnesses that together affect more than three percent of the human population.
In February 2007, the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research within the Broad Institute’s Psychiatric Disease Program was founded by a grant from the Stanley Medical Research Institute. The Stanley Center is a unique entity at the Broad, in that we are clearly therapeutically-focused. Our goal is to create a cohesive small organization that combines the creativity, spontaneity, and brilliant ideas of academia with the focus, structure, and multi-disciplinary approaches of industrial drug discovery. The Stanley Center’s mission is to discover new approaches to the molecular understanding, diagnosis and pharmacological treatment of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and major depression.
Within the Psychiatric Disease Program and the Stanley Center, major areas of focus include:
- Genetic Analysis
A primary emphasis is to identify and characterize the risk genes for psychiatric diseases through linkage and association studies in the human population. - Imaging
Sophisticated imaging techniques are used to help elucidate brain-based phenotypes in clinical disease. - Translational Research
High-throughput chemical screens are used to identify molecules that modulate important cellular targets related to neural function. - Medicinal Chemistry
Novel medicinal chemistry strategies, supported by computational chemistry, will be used to optimize leads from the various projects to enhance desired pharmacological properties. - Models of Disease
Animal and cellular models for human psychiatric disease are developed and used to investigate the function of candidate genes and pathways and to test lead compounds.
Events
The Psychiatric Disease Program's Frontiers in Major Depression symposium was held in April 2007. Videos of the seminars can be found here.
The Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research's seminar series features prestigious scientists from various institutions. These seminars are open to the public.
Resources