Program For Genetics and Psychoses

Principal Investigator: Vishwajit L. Nimgaonkar

Immunocytochemical analysis of neural rosettes generated from iPSCs

Cellular Research Projects

iPSCs

Many types of human cells can be reprogrammed to produce cells called iPSCs that possess a unique property: they can be guided to further differentiate into any cell in the body.. Our strategy is to generate human iPSCs and then differentiate them into neurons, the cells responsible for the brain's activities.The neurons are used further for the following studies:

Schematic flow diagram of neuron differentiation from iPSCs.

  • viral infections
  • mutations causing neuropsychiatric disorders

Studies of viral infections:

We can infect the iPSC-derived neurons with herpesviruses, like HSV-1, the virus that causes cold sores on the lip (and other infectious agents) because we want to better understand how such viruses can cause brain damage. Our publication list outlines several studies correlating decline in cognition with persons that are positive for HSV-1. Our ultimate goal is to use the infected cells to find new compounds that can be used to treat or eliminate brain infections.

Studies of mutations causing neuropsychiatric disorders:

Several hundred genetic markers (variants) for schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders have been discovered. Some of these markers, called mutations are likely to affect brain functions. We are producing iPSCs from cells that carry such mutations in order to derive neurons.We plan to understand the effects that the mutations have on cellular functions in the neurons and eventually find ways to correct the dysfunction

Fibroblasts & blood derived cells

We are using cultured cells to understand how certain genes, also called circadian genes produce daily rhythms in cells. Additionally, we derive lymphoblastoid cell lines from lymphocytes that are used as sources of DNA and for additional gene expression studies.