$100 million to decipher the genetics of severe mental illnesses

By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff | March 8, 2007

The Broad Institute, the genomics powerhouse in Cambridge, announced yesterday that it will receive what it believes is the biggest gift ever for psychiatric research to a single US institution: $100 million to decipher the genetics of severe mental illnesses.

The money comes from the Stanley Medical Research Institute , a family philanthropy based in Maryland. It will be used largely to gather and analyze thousands of DNA samples from people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in hopes of determining the complex genetics behind the diseases.

Only in the last year or so has gene-scanning technology reached the point that scientists think that aim is realistic, said Dr. Edward Scolnick , who oversees the Broad's psychiatric research. Researchers at the Broad and elsewhere are also using these genomic tools to make inroads on cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.

For mental illness, it could take several years to determine the key genetic risk factors, Scolnick said. But once that is done, "You can start developing new approaches for diagnosis, new targets for treatment, new understanding of which drugs to use in which people, and turn it into a rational science. That's the Holy Grail./.../"