Steven J. Clapcote, Ph.D.
Young Investigator

Dr. Steven Clapcote is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Centre for Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Function at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He studied Agriculture (B.Sc., University of Wales) and Animal Breeding (M.Sc., University of Edinburgh) before undertaking Ph.D. research at the University of Liverpool (UK) on the genetic basis of resistance to sleeping sickness in mice. He conducted postdoctoral research on the genetic basis of growth in mice under Prof. Chris Graham FRS at the University of Oxford (UK) before receiving a Royal Society postdoctoral fellowship to obtain training in neurobiology under Dr. John Roder in Toronto.

Dr. Clapcote uses mice to study the genetic basis of neuropsychiatric diseases. This work combines his previous training in mammalian genetics with newly acquired skills in the neurobehavioral analysis of rodents. By introducing mutations into the murine versions (orthologs) of human genes that have been associated with schizophrenia and depression, he is able to study how these genetic changes might lead to abnormalities in the function of the mouse brain. Dissecting these mechanisms in mice may provide clues to the pathophysiological events that underlie human mental illness. Dr. Clapcote will initially focus on the DISC1 and PDE4B genes, which encode interacting proteins that have both been associated with schizophrenia.

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