Uniting to solve the mystery of mental illness

University neuroscientists, stem cell biologists, psychologists and psychiatrists are set to break down scientific barriers in a bid to solve the mystery of mental illness and help develop new treatments. A team from the University's Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute have secured a £5.2M Wellcome Trust Strategic Award to help combine the latest findings in genetics, brain imaging, animal models and stem cells. By developing a novel approach - combining human, animal and cellular experiments for the first time - the Cardiff team hope to gain new understanding on how specific genetic risk factors impact on the brain and behaviour. "Recent findings in genetics have advanced our understanding of mental illness and major psychiatric disorders in important new ways," according to Professor Mike Owen , School of Medicine, who leads the research. "We now know that that disorders like schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and intellectual disability share some of the same genetic risk factors. "They also point to an important role in these disorders for abnormalities in synapses - the structures through which brain cells communicate with each other. "The next step in understanding these disorders is to take the genetic findings and trace them into how the brain functions and influences behaviour by harnessing recent advances in neurosciences and stem cell research," he added.