Symposium on the Emerging Genetics and Neurobiology of Severe Mental Illness

Download pdf of the poster (8.5x14)

This two-day symposium, hosted by Drs. Ed Scolnick of the Broad Institute's Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Li-Huei Tsai of MIT's Picower Institute and Guoping Feng of MIT's McGovern Institute, brought together leading scientists who work on the emerging genetics and biology of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism and other mental illnesses. These illnesses cause lifelong disability in millions of people—combined, more than 3% of the world’s population is affected. We believe the timing of this symposium is ideal, as recent genetic findings are beginning to point to a new molecular understanding of the underlying pathophysiology as well as the commonalities and differences among these diseases. The four sessions reflect the flow of basic discoveries to new treatments, as the goal of this symposium is to reveal vast opportunities for new treatments for mental illnesses.

Videos of most talks are now available.

Day 1: Genetics

8:30 am - 12:20 pm
Session 1:  Genetics of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Illness
Chair:  Steven McCarroll

1:30 - 6:00 pm
Session 2: Genetics of Autism, OCD, Depression and Mental Retardation
Chair: Mriganka Sur

Reception/ Dinner Buffet/ Band in the Atrium of Building 46, MIT

Day 2: Biology and Clinical

8:00 am - 12:20 pm
Session 3: Emerging Biology and Functional Data
Chair: Mark Bear

1:30 - 5:25 pm
Session 4: Clinical Applications
Chair: Ed Scolnick