The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 195: 97-99. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.063156
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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EDITORIALS

Dissecting the phenotype in genome-wide association studies of psychiatric illness

Cross-Disorder Phenotype Group of the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium*

Nick Craddock, PhD, FRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK

Kenneth Kendler, MD, Michael Neale, PhD

Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, and Departments of Psychiatry, and Human and Molecular Genetics, Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

John Nurnberger, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Shaun Purcell, PhD

Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Marcella Rietschel, MD

Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

Roy Perlis, MD

Bipolar Clinical and Research Program, and Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Susan L. Santangelo, ScD

Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry and Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Human Genetic Research, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Thomas Schulze, MD

Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany, and Unit on the Genetic Basis of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, NIMH, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Jordan W. Smoller, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, and Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Anita Thapar, PhD, FRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK

Correspondence: Professor Nick Craddock, Department of Psychological Medicine and Neurology, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK. Email: craddockn{at}cardiff.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

None.

The International Cross-Disorder Phenotype Group is undertaking analyses in over 80 000 samples to inform understanding of the biological underpinnings and nosology of major psychiatric illness.

* The following international researchers are members of the Cross-Disorder Phenotype Group: Nick Craddock (UK), Kenneth Kendler (USA), Michael Neale (USA), John Nurnberger (USA), Shaun Purcell (USA), Marcella Rietschel (Germany), Roy Perlis (USA), Susan L. Santangelo (USA), Thomas Schulze (USA), Jordan W. Smoller (USA) and Anita Thapar (UK).

Over the past 2 years genome-wide association studies have made major contributions to understanding the genetic architecture of many common human diseases. This editorial outlines the development of such studies in psychiatry and highlights the opportunities for advancing understanding of the biological underpinnings and nosological structure of psychiatric disorders.