The Molecular Psychiatry Association (MPA) will host its 4th Annual Meeting October 6-9 in Maui, Hawaii. All researchers interested in learning about various molecular approaches to enhance understanding of psychiatric disease are invited to attend this open meeting. The conference will include sessions focusing on neurobiology, genetics, brain imaging, biomarkers, brain expression, neural stem cells, animal models and novel drug development, as well as a poster session.
Among the UCSF Psychiatry faculty members currently scheduled to take part are:
- William Byerley, MD (chair): Molecular Mechanisms of Psychiatric Disease (Saturday, October 8, 11:30 a.m.)
- Ben Cheyette, MD, PhD (co-chair and presenter): Genetic Insights into Autism: From Gene Regulation to Synapses: "Spine and Glutamatergic Synapse Phenotypes Downstream of Wnt/Catenin Signaling in a Mouse Psychiatric Model" (Thursday, October 6, 9:15 a.m.)
- John Rubenstein, MD, PhD (chair and presenter): Genetic Insights into Autism: From Gene Regulation to Synapses: "Method to Assay the Function of ASD Alleles in Vivo" (Thursday, October 6, 9:15 a.m.)
- Vikaas Sohal, MD, PhD (co-chair and presenter): Neural Circuits Mediating Motivated Behaviors: "Prefrontal Circuit Control of Cognitive Flexibility" (Thursday, October 6, 7 a.m.)
- Matthew W. State, MD, PhD (plenary speaker): Using Whole Genome Sequencing to Characterize the Developmental Trajectory of ASD Risk (Thursday, October 6, 7 p.m.)
- Donna Werling, PhD (presenter): Neuropsychiatric Genetics of Childhood: "Sex-Biased Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Role of the Female Protective Effect" (Friday, October 7, 9:15 a.m.)
- Jeremy Willsey, PhD (presenter): Genetic Insights into Autism: From Gene Regulation to Synapses: "Identifying ASD Convergence in Model Systems" (Thursday, October 6, 9:15 a.m.)
About the MPA
The Molecular Psychiatry Association was founded in 2013 to promote research and communication of research findings that may lead to a better understanding of the molecular basis of psychiatric disorders. By bringing together investigators with varied molecular approaches, the association hopes to serve as catalyst for cross-fertilization and future collaborations. The MPA – as well as its annual meeting – is open to all professionals who are interested in molecular foundations of psychiatric disorders. Co-founder William Byerley, MD, serves as the editor-in-chief of its official journal, Molecular Neuropsychiatry.
About UCSF Psychiatry
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a mission focused on research (basic, translational, clinical), teaching, patient care, and public service.
UCSF Psychiatry conducts its clinical, educational, and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including UCSF campuses at Parnassus Heights, Mission Bay, and Laurel Heights, the UCSF Medical Center at Mt. Zion, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, the San Francisco VA Health Care System, and UCSF Fresno.
About the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.
The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSF’s unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departments—Neurology, Psychiatry, and Neurological Surgery—that are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
About UCSF
UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises two top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, and other partner and affiliated hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the Bay Area.
