Special Topics: Genetics, Neurobiology, and Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate-level seminar from Brain and Cognitive Sciences covering the molecular and genetic underpinnings of major psychiatric disorders. Topics include bipolar disorder, psychosis, and schizophrenia, with lectures on the DISC1 gene, calcium signaling, neurogenesis and depression, lithium and the GSK3 hypothesis, CREB's role in addiction and depressive behavior, the GABA system, the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia, and the dopamine pathway through DARPP-32. Materials include lecture notes and readings drawn from current research literature, reflecting MIT's format for advanced special-topics seminars not covered in standard course listings. The course assumes background in neuroscience and is aimed at graduate students studying the biological basis of mental illness. Available free through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license, with no certificate offered.