Courses:

Cognitive & Behavioral Genetics >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Study Materials

The notes below show the subtopics that are covered within each lecture.
General Overview
  • Why study cognitive and behavioral genetics? 
  • Some major techniques and discoveries of behavioral genetics. 
  • Nature and nurture. 
  • Social and ethical concomitants of cognitive and behavioral genetics: eugenics, social Darwisinism, race, sex.
Remedial Genetics
  • Multigene traits, QTL.
Gene Structure / Function
  • Gene exon/intron structure. Allelic variation. 
  • Basal transcription. Cis and trans regulatory elements.
  • mRNA structure. The genetic code. Coding/non coding regions. Translational control. 
  • Point mutations, small and large-scale deletions, chromosomal abnormalities.
Single Gene Mutations
  • How can a single gene mutation lead to a complex psychiatric phenotype? 
  • Animal models 1: the GABAa receptor and enhanced anxiety and bias for threat cues. 
  • Animal models 2: proline deyhdrogenase and sensorimotor gating (relevance to attention deficits in multiple psychiatric disorders).
Neurogenetics
  • Mendelian genetics in the setting of neuropsychiatry. 
  • How can molecular genetics be used to find the gene responsible for a human disorder inherited in a simple Mendelian pattern and to provide an explanation for the patterns of pathology which are observed: Huntington's Disease, a single gene autosomal dominant mutation.
Environmental and Genetic Context
  • Genomic environment.
  • Cellular and local environment.
  • Body + brain, hormones, (estrogen).
  • External environment. Activity-dependent wiring and gene expression.
Williams Syndrome
  • Genetic, neurobiological, cognitive, linguistic, and social dimensions of Williams Syndrome.
Genetics of Language
  • Heritability of normal variation and pathologies of language.
  • Specific Language Impairment.
  • Dyslexia.
  • Developmental language delay.
  • Stuttering.
Challenge of Defining Phenotype
  • Schizophrenia, manic depressive illness, alcoholism.
  • Diagnostic issues.


 



 








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