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Funded Grants

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Antipsychotic treatment in a genetic subtype of schizophrenia: Novel insights from neuroimaging and pharmacogenetics

Project Overview

Schizophrenia is a common and serious mental illness characterized by psychotic symptoms, social withdrawal and functional disabilities that are generally lifelong. Response to treatment with antipsychotics is variable and the manifestation of common side effects, including serious motor symptoms, is unpredictable. There is growing interest in the clinical and predictive value of using pharmacogenetic testing to determine a patient’s response to antipsychotic drugs. For this project, Dr. Butcher  will investigate the antipsychotic treatment response and functional and structural brain phenotypes in adults with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS), the only confirmed molecular genetic subtype of schizophrenia.

The objectives of this study are three-fold. 1) To investigate the utility of a pharmacogenetic approach in the treatment response (efficacy and side-effect profile) of adults with a molecularly defined subtype of schizophrenia,22q11.2DS, that is clinically indistinguishable from other forms of schizophrenia in terms of psychiatric features.3 2) To identify best practices for antipsychotic treatment in the co-occurrence of schizophrenia and PD in 22q11.2DS given that the risk of PD is elevated in 22q11.2DS.4 and 3) To evaluate the use of transcranial sonography, an ultrasound of the head, as a faster, cheaper, and non-invasive alternative method to PET scanning and biomarker of early-onset PD that could also delineate motor symptoms from antipsychotic side effects. As a secondary objective, whole-genome sequencing will be used to investigate variants that could mediate treatment response and the inherent vulnerability of individuals with 22q11.2DS to schizophrenia and PD.

Principal Investigator

Nancy Butcher , University of Toronto

Partners and Donors

Bell Canada

Project Complete

Antipsychotic treatment in a genetic subtype of schizophrenia: Novel insights from neuroimaging and pharmacogenetics

  • Grant Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Mental Health

  • Disease Area

    Mental illness,  Parkinson's

  • Competition

    Bell Mental Health Research Training Awards

  • Province

    Ontario

  • Start Date

    2013

  • Total Grant Amount

    $97,500

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $48,750

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

Please note all online donations will receive an electronic tax receipt, issued by Brain Canada Foundation.

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Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

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