FENS 2018: Genetic variations in psychiatric disorders may affect response to treatment

Research, investigating how mental disorders develop, has demonstrated that variations in a gene linked to anxiety and depression could affect an individual’s response to treatment.This research was presented at the FENS Forum of Neuroscience (7–11 July, Berlin, Germany). In this study, the genome sequence in marmoset monkeys was altered in order to breed animals with symptoms mimicking depression and anxiety observed in patients. The mechanisms and potential treatments for these psychiatric disorders were then assessed. Andrea Santangelo, University of Cambridge (UK), commented: “I am exploring the complex pathway which links individual variation in the genome – the code which tells...