DISC1 complex: Neurosignalling and genetics

Bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia are severe and debilitating forms of mental illness that together affect up to one in fifty persons at some point in their life. These illnesses tend to cluster in families. This and other evidence points to genetic (inherited) factors being important. Recently, we identified one such factor, called Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1, or DISC1 for short. There is now a lot of support from many studies for this being an important risk factor not just in schizophrenia, but also bipolar disorder and depression. Recently, we identified another risk factor gene called PDE4B. PDE4B was already thought to be important in building memories in the brain. It does so by regulating the amount of a molecule called cAMP, the level of which is key to many brain processes. It turns out that DISC1 acts as a kind of master organiser not just of PDE4 but also other proteins that are believed to be important for how the brain develops, and processes sensory information. Our research is aimed at understanding these complex processes in more detail, to understand what makes them go wrong in persons with mental illness, with the long term hope that this knowledge and understanding may bring us closer to better treatments for these devastating illnesses. In the process, we also expect to reach a fuller understanding of how the brain normally develops, and of how the mind works.