IU School Of Medicine Receives Grant For Additional Research Into Genetics Of Bipolar Affective Disorder
INDIANAPOLIS-Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have received a $1.2 million, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health to continue their research into the genetics of manic depressive illness.
The grant is part of $12 million awarded to nine institutions to support the on-going search for the genes that cause bipolar affective disorder, more commonly known as manic depression.
John Nurnberger Jr., M.D., Ph.D., is the principal investigator for the IU School of Medicine grant. He will lead the IU research, looking for markers on seven different chromosomes (1, 6, 7, 10, 16, 21 and 22) with areas that appear related to bipolar disorder.
This grant will allow Dr. Nurnberger and his IU colleagues to proceed with similar research begun earlier under grants supporting work from 1989 to 1997. This project is now expanded from four data collection sites to eight data collection sites. Dr. Nurnberger was national coordinator for the four-site study and Indiana University will retain a coordinating role for the new project.
"Isolating the genes that cause manic depression will allow researchers to develop better therapies for the disorder," said Dr. Nurnberger. "Earlier research efforts have made great strides in identifying chromosomes involved in the disorder, so I am optimistic that some of the genes involved may be identified during the next few years." IU has been collaborating with other institutions seeking the genetic basis of the disorder which affects about 1 percent of the U.S. population. Manic depression is characterized by severe swings in high and low mood states that generally last weeks or months. Approximately 75 percent of all people affected with manic depression have at least one close relative with manic depression or severe depression.
The participants in this study are found primarily through the affiliations IU has with various local hospitals and clinics, as well as its own university facilities. Dr. Nurnberger is the Joyce and Iver Small Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Institute of Psychiatric Research at the IU School of Medicine.
The IU researchers for this grant include William Lawson, M.D., professor of psychiatry; Elizabeth Bowman, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry; Leela Rau, M.D., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry; Marvin Miller, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry; Aimee Mayeda, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry; P. Michael Conneally, Ph.D., distinguished professor of medical genetics and of neurology; Howard Edenberg, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of medical and molecular genetics; Tatiana Foroud, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and molecular genetics; Carrie Smiley, R.N., study coordinator; and research interviewers Polly Larson, R.N., Vanessa Patrick, R.N., and Joseph Smedley, Ph.D. There are also collaborating investigators at Wayne State University and the University of Louisville.
Other institutions who received funding from this grant are the University of Utah, the University of California - San Diego, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Iowa, the University of Chicago, Washington University, Johns Hopkins University and Rush-Presbyterian Hospital.
(Note: The IU team of researchers is seeking siblings who have a family history of bipolar disorder to participate in the study. Individuals with questions or those wanting to enroll in the study may call 317-274-0173.)
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