Dissecting the biological mechanisms of schizophrenia through large-scale genomics

• Applicant: Dr. Alice Braun
• Subject Area: Biological Psychiatry ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology ; Medical Informatics and Medical Bioinformatics
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 584467989

Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder with high heritability, characterized by disturbances in thinking, perception, emotion, and social behavior. The proposed project aims to advance our understanding of the etiology of this disorder by analyzing the largest dataset of genetic information collected to date and identifying genomic regions that contribute to disease risk. The first part of the project (Work Package 1) focuses on identifying genetic differences that increase susceptibility to schizophrenia. To this end, the genomes of approximately 140,000 affected individuals will be compared with those of unaffected control subjects across numerous individual studies, with the results subsequently combined in a meta-analysis. All data will be processed using standardized quality control and analysis procedures. The study includes individuals from diverse ancestral backgrounds, including European, East-Asian, African, Latin American, and Southeast-Asian populations. In the second part of the project (Work Package 2), the results from WP1 will be leveraged to pinpoint specific genetic variants and the genes within the identified regions that contribute to disease risk. Genome-wide studies highlight only broad regions of association; therefore, follow-up analyses using specialized computational methods are required to identify the precise risk genes and variants. Newly developed statistical methods will prioritize the most likely effector genes, and these results will be integrated with databases of biological pathways to better understand the underlying mechanisms of disease development. Together, these approaches will create a central resource for schizophrenia genetics and provide a valuable foundation for future laboratory studies as well as the development of new therapeutics.

• DFG Programme: Fellowship
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Mark Daly, Ph.D.