Brain & Genomics
Understanding the causes of severe mental illnesses, including genetic, environmental and developmental factors
The Brain & Genomics Hub aims to investigate ways to improve diagnosis of psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar and schizoaffective disorder and identify new targets for treatment .
Brain & Genomics is based in Cardiff and led by Professor James Walters.
Research
Usually, data collected across many research projects are studied separately and within individuals with the same diagnosis. The Brain & Genomics Hub was designed differently, in consultation with people with lived experience, to gather the same detailed information about individuals with psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar and schizoaffective disorder. This data should enable our researchers to identify new links across conditions that have not been considered before.
They hope this will advance psychiatry and improve the lives of people with these conditions. The team will be able share their data with other researchers, to allow the wider mental health research community to also make new findings.
How do people with lived experience work with the Hub?
The Hub are recruiting a diverse and representative group of 600 people with these conditions. The researchers gather a range of biological (including genomics and brain imaging), clinical, social and developmental information and undertake advanced analysis of this data.
Meet the Brain and Genomics research co-ordinator
Jodie Gill is a registered mental health nurse and worked in clinical practice for almost 10 years. She’s now the research co-ordinator for the Brain and Genomics Hub and works in close collaboration with the professional PPIE group.
