Molecular Brain Science

Major mental disorders such as schizophrenia, affective disorders, and developmental disorders are severe disorders showing high prevalence rate in every population. They not only bring long-lasting suffering to patients and their families, but also cause tremendous loss from a socio-economical view. Surprisingly, cause of illness and pathophysiology of mental disorders remain largely unclear. The aim of this department is 1) to contribute the understanding of cause and pathophysiology of major mental disorders at the molecular level, by genetic and epigenetic analyses of the neuronal genomes of patients, and 2) to develop the practical biomarkers for biological diagnosis of mental disorders.