Project Summary

Cornelius Gross, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of the European Molecular Biological Laboratory, notes that neither genes nor the environment act alone in determining a predisposition to psychiatric disorders. Therefore, he plans to identify genes in mice that make them more susceptible to environmental assaults that give rise to anxiety. It is known that early adverse rearing increases abnormal anxiety in adult human, primates and rodents and genetic factors modify these effects. Dr. Gross aims to find genes in mice in which alterations increase or decrease the susceptibility to early maternal environment. To do so, he plans on genetically engineering knockout and transgenic mice and to investigate their ability to modulate the anxiety-inducing effects of adverse early rearing. Understanding the interactions between specific genes and specific environmental factors would enable interventions to be aimed at susceptible populations.

Program Area: ANXIETY DISORDERS\Anxiety Disorder

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