KFO 241: Genotype-Phenotype Relationships and Neurobiology of the Longitudinal Course of Psychosis

临床研究单位的首要主题是提供线索，帮助我们理解精神疾病（即精神分裂症和双相情感障碍）纵向病程的复杂生物学基础。在即将到来的DSM-V和ICD-11中，目前正在努力进行范式变化：纵向过程的测量以及维度方面将成为新分类系统的核心要素。令人惊讶的是，将纵向方面整合到未来的分类系统中，在生物学领域，主要是精神病学的遗传研究领域，还没有类似的举措，因为目前的努力更多地集中在增加横断面诊断的样本量上，而不是建立纵向队列。临床研究部门正在填补这一空白，通过对大型队列的研究，研究对象的表型是纵向的，也包括功能参数和环境因素的信息。在精神病学遗传学和神经生物学领域已有的大量知识和长期经验的基础上，我们目前实施的研究框架包括四个领域基因组学和表观基因组学，包括药物遗传学和药物基因组学，表型组学，神经生物学和环境研究。临床研究单位的研究结果将大大有助于更好地了解精神病纵向病程的分子生物学决定因素及其与环境的复杂相互作用。这反过来又有望有助于改善精神病长期预后的治疗方法的发展。

The overarching theme of the Clinical Research Unit consists in delivering clues to our understanding of the complex biological basis of the longitudinal course of psychosis, namely schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There are current efforts for a paradigmatic change in the upcoming DSM-V and the ICD-11: Measures of the longitudinal course along with dimensional aspects will be core elements of the new classification systems. Surprisingly, the integration of longitudinal aspects into future classification systems has not yet been paralleled by a similar move in the field of biological, mainly genetic research in psychiatry, as current efforts rather focus on increasing sample sizes of cross-sectional diagnoses than the establishment of longitudinal cohorts. The Clinical Research Unit is filling this gap by research in large cohorts with a phenotype of interest that is longitudinal in nature and also includes information on functional parameters and environmental factors. Building on a vast body of already available knowledge and long-standing own experience in the fields of psychiatric genetics and neurobiology, we currently implement a research framework comprising the four domains genomics and epigenomics including pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics, phenomics, neurobiology and the study of environment. The findings of the Clinical Research Unit will substantially contribute to a better understanding of the molecular biological determinants of the longitudinal course of psychosis and their complex interactions with the environment. This in turn will hopefully contribute to the development of therapies improving the long-term outcomes of psychosis.