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Navigation for This Section: Center for Integration of Research on Genetics and Ethics
Abstract: This talk has 4 major sections. First, I review the basic definition of a complex trait, especially as it applies to psychiatric disorders. Second, I outline the 4 basic paradigms of psychiatric genetics: simple genetic epidemiology, advanced genetic epidemiology, gene-finding methods and molecular genetics. Third, I review a few basic facts about psychiatric genetics - the level of heritabilities found for most common disorders and the difficulties the field has had in obtaining replicated evidence for single gene effects. Finally, I briefly review three conceptual/philosophical issues that relate to psychiatric genetics: i) why do people become much more concerned in learning about possible genetic influences on personality or risk for depression than genes that influence risk for cancer, atherosclerosis or asthma? ii) how have the results of research in behavioral/Psychiatric Genetics impacted on the sense of Parental Responsibility for psychiatric illness in their offspring.
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About Dr. Kendler
Professor and Eminent Scholar of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Kendler received his medical and psychiatric training at Stanford and Yale University, respectively. Since 1983, he has been engaged in studies of the genetics of psychiatric and substance use disorders, including schizophrenia, major depression, alcoholism, smoking and nicotine dependence. He has utilized methods ranging from family studies, to large-sample population-based twin studies to molecular genetic studies aimed at identifying the genomic location of specific genes that influence the vulnerability to schizophrenia, alcoholism and nicotine dependence. Data collection for these studies have been completed in New Zealand, Virginia, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Sweden. He has published over 440 reviewed journals, has received a number of national and international awards for his work and serves on several Editorial Boards and is Editor of Psychological Medicine. Since 1996, he has served as Director of the Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics.
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