Brain gene activity across ancestries in schizophrenia
Official title: Gene Expression Regulation in Brains of East Asian, African, and European Descent Explains Schizophrenia GWAS Across Populations
Funded at Upstate Medical University · NIH-11376990 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are comparing brain gene activity from people of East Asian, African/African American, and European ancestry to help explain genetic links to schizophrenia.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Upstate Medical University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Syracuse, United States) |
| Project start | March 25, 2022 |
| Project end | January 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $718,280 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH126459-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11376990 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants would be donors (or families of donors) of East Asian, African/African American, or European ancestry who can contribute postmortem brain tissue, including people who had schizophrenia and matched controls.
✕Less likely to help
People from ancestries not represented in the dataset (for example, some Latino, Indigenous, or other mixed-ancestry groups) and those seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to directly benefit from this project.
What this research studies
This project will build a large dataset of gene activity from donated brain tissue from people of East Asian (about 546 samples), African/African American (about 450 samples), and European ancestry and combine it with existing PsychENCODE data. Scientists will map how common genetic variants change gene expression in the brain and connect those expression changes to schizophrenia risk. The team aims to find out whether differences in genetic signals between groups come from different risk genes or from differences in variant frequency and genetic linkage. You would not receive treatment from this work, but donating brain tissue or participating in related registries could contribute to discoveries that help patients in the future.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could clarify genetic causes of schizophrenia across ancestries and point to more accurate, ancestry-informed targets for future diagnosis and therapies.
How similar studies have gone: Previous projects like PsychENCODE have successfully linked brain eQTLs to schizophrenia risk in mainly European samples, but this work expands those methods to underrepresented ancestries where data are limited.
Where this research is happening
-
Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Liu, Chunyu — Upstate Medical University
- Study coordinator: Liu, Chunyu
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.