Wiring the Brain

I’ve got your missing heritability right here…

Published on 2012-02-07 09:52:06

A debate is raging in human genetics these days as to why the massive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that have been carried out for every trait and disorder imaginable over the last several years have not explained more of the underlying heritability. This is especially true for many of the so-called complex disorders that have been investigated, where results have been far less than hoped for. A good deal of effort has gone into quantifying exactly how much of the genetic variance has

From miswired brain to psychopathology – modelling neurodevelopmental disorders in mice

Published on 2012-01-25 15:01:35

It takes a lot of genes to wire the human brain. Billions of cells, of a myriad different types have to be specified, directed to migrate to the right position, organised in clusters or layers, and finally connected to their appropriate targets. When the genes that specify these neurodevelopmental processes are mutated, the result can be severe impairment in function, which can manifest as neurological or psychiatric disease. How those kinds of neurodevelopmental defects actually lead to

Jump-starting regeneration of injured nerves

Published on 2012-01-08 09:59:13

Unlike in many other animals, injured nerve fibres in the mammalian central nervous system do not regenerate – at least not spontaneously. A lot of research has gone in to finding ways to coax them to do so, unfortunately with only modest success. The main problem is that there are many reasons why central nerve fibres don’t regenerate after an injury – tackling them singly is not sufficient. A new study takes a combined approach to hit two distinct molecular pathways in injured nerves

What is a gene "for"?

Published on 2011-11-07 04:55:55

“Scientists discover gene for autism” (or ovarian cancer, or depression, cocaine addiction, obesity, happiness, height, schizophrenia… and whatever you’re having yourself). These are typical newspaper headlines (all from the last year) and all use the popular shorthand of “a gene for” something. In my view, this phrase is both lazy and deeply misleading and has caused widespread confusion about what genes are and do and about their influences on human traits and disease.The problem

Does brain plasticity trump innateness?

Published on 2011-10-01 11:04:20

The fact that the adult brain is very plastic is often held up as evidence against the idea that many psychological, cognitive or behavioural traits are innately determined. At first glance, there does indeed appear to be a paradox. On the one hand, behavioural genetic studies show that many human psychological traits are strongly heritable and thus likely determined, at least in part, by innate biological differences. On the other, it is very clear that even the adult brain is highly plastic

Engineering viruses to trace neural connections

Published on 2011-09-28 07:49:49

I have a new post on BigThink on engineering viruses to trace neural connections.

A brief hiatus

Published on 2011-09-20 13:16:21

Apologies for not posting anything recently. I have something in the works at BigThink and a few more in the pipeline but it has been hard finding the time to blog recently. I hope to be back to it in a couple of weeks.

Split brains, autism and schizophrenia

Published on 2011-08-11 03:32:48

A new study suggests that a gene known to be causally linked to schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders is involved in the formation of connections between the two hemispheres of the brain. DISC1 is probably the most famous gene in psychiatric genetics, and rightly so. It was discovered in a large Scottish pedigree, where 18 members were affected by psychiatric disease. The diagnoses ranged from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to depression and a range of “minor” psychiatric con

Welcome to your genome

Published on 2011-08-03 04:36:34

There is a common view that the human genome has two different parts – a “constant” part and a “variable” part. According to this view, the bases of DNA in the constant part are the same across all individuals. They are said to be “fixed” in the population. They are what make us all human – they differentiate us from other species. The variable part, in contrast, is made of positions in the DNA sequence that are “polymorphic” – they come in two or more different version

Hallucinating neural networks

Published on 2011-07-25 14:22:46

Hearing voices is a hallmark of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, occurring in 60-80% of cases. These voices are typically identified as belonging to other people and may be voicing the person’s thoughts, commenting on their actions or ideas, arguing with each other or telling the person to do something. Importantly, these auditory hallucinations are as subjectively real as any external voices. They may in many cases be critical or abusive and are often highly distressing to the