Pablo V Gejman, MD

Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Center for Psychiatric Genetics
Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Interests:
Dr. Pablo V. Gejman is the Director of the Center for Psychiatric Genetics at ENH Research Institute and a Professor of Psychiatry at Feinberg Medical School, Northwestern University. His research group is committed to investigations that integrate clinical and molecular methods to further understanding of the genetic basis of schizophrenia. The situation of this field is one of continuous progress. There are reliable phenotypic definitions (i.e., who is sick and who is well) which are backed by robust epidemiological data that provide evidence for the heritability of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. The research program can be characterized by a dual basic and clinical role that facilitates the implementation of multi-component experiments.
Dr. Gejman’s laboratory’s work can be considered translational research for which biology students, PhDs, and physicians are well suited. They have reported support for a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia in chromosome 6q (Cao et al., Genomics 1997). A linkage that has obtained additional support from independent clinical samples, and have recently characterized a disease gene for schizophrenia in this chromosome (Duan et al., Am J Hum Genet 2004). Data from multiple independent clinical samples are beginning to yield insights into the location of multiple other genes affecting susceptibility. The detection of most susceptibility genes for schizophrenia will, however, benefit from the development of well-characterized clinical samples collected by high-quality unified methodology, with sufficient statistical power. Current genome scans are being performed on samples composed of hundreds of families (on average, 5-10 times the size of previous samples) with improved laboratory methods and quality control. They are major contributors to this process of pedigree recruitment, clinical characterization, and laboratory studies.

Dr. Gejman’s laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art genotyping and sequencing equipment. In addition to genetic mapping experiments, they have active projects related to the biochemical analysis of mutation of genes of pharmacological importance and also those detected in gene-hunting endeavors. His lab has recently studied the functional consequences of synonymous codon usage and its effects on mRNA primary structure for the expression of genes of the G protein-coupled receptor family which has yielded novel and interesting results (Duan et al., 2003). Dr. Gejman encourages trainees to think independently, but also prepares them for collaborative work by partial assimilation into the wider-campus network and other networks, and to independently develop new networks among trainees and faculty.