Pablo
V. Gejman, MD
Professor
of Psychiatry, Northwestern University
Director, Center for Psychiatric Genetics, ENH
To contact Dr. Gejman:
ENH Research Institute
1001 University Place
Evanston, Illinois 60201
Phone: 224-364-7550
Fax: 224-374-7570
E-mail: pgejman@northwestern.edu
Dr. Gejman's website
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.