The overarching objective of the lab I work in, the Laboratory of Neurogenetics, is to identify the genetic bases that influence brain mechanisms and ultimately, behavior. The hope is to one day have learned enough to be able to predict certain individual trait risks, such as propensity for risky sexual behaviors or drinking, or even anxiety levels, by looking at an individual’s brain scans and genetic data. To even begin undertaking this momentous task, my lab runs the Duke Neurogenetics Study (the largest study of this kind, involving over a thousand undergraduate participants so far), which through psychological surveys, fMRI scanning, and saliva samples, aims to create a comprehensive genetic and behavioral profile for each participant— (BTW for anyone looking for some easy cash, this study pays $120 once you complete it; sign-up here: http://www.haririlab.com/brain.php). Because there are so many facets of behavior that are unique and interesting to look at, particularly those that are associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders, there are several distinct projects occurring simultaneously in the lab.
The project that I am working on under the mentorship of my post-doc Johnna was primarily motivated by her interest at looking at the role of zinc in neurological disorders, as it has been previously implicated in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and aging. However, these previous studies have not considered the genetic factors which lead to zinc dyshomeostasis and thus the correlating neurodegenerative disorders. Therefore, I was responsible for going into the literature and parsing out all the studies which have looked at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that affect the production or activation of zinc proteins, receptors, and transporters, and have subsequently been linked to neurological disorders or even serum zinc levels. The latter part of my project involves selecting one of these SNPs and pursuing in it depth to see it can be linked out to a particular disorder or behavior in the population that we are looking at (undergraduates at Duke). To do this, I am running several statistical tests using genomic data from the Duke Neurogenetics Study database as well as looking at brain scans among participants to see if any areas are significantly more or less active in carriers of the risk allele. The SNP that I will be looking at in particular is the rs1344706 on the zinc finger 804 A gene, which has been suggested to be involved in the occurrence of schizophrenia, although there have been many conflicting experimental results. It will be interesting to see if the rs1344706 association with schizophrenic-like traits holds in our sample!
