Vanderbilt University is partnering with the William K. Warren Foundation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on research aimed at improving the treatment of schizophrenia and other forms of serious mental illness.

Catatonia, a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity and a trance-like mental stupor, can at times manifest with great excitement and confusion. And while it is often associated with schizophrenia, it can present in patients with either medical or psychiatric conditions. For this reason, the condition has often confused clinicians.

Although heteromeric dopamine receptors composed of both D1 and D2 subunits have been proposed to play a role in depression and schizophrenia, recent studies suggest these heteromers do not exist.

A “transformational” $6.4 million gift from Dallas couple Donald Test Jr., and his wife, Charlotte, who have a very personal connection to the devastating disease of schizophrenia, is supporting Vanderbilt Department of Psychiatry research and treatment into schizophrenia and related disorders.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share common genetic underpinnings. Vanderbilt researchers combined high-resolution gene expression studies with gene association data to reveal signaling pathways linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Drugs developed at Vanderbilt could provide a new way to treat schizophrenia in a personalized way.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and Vanderbilt University have discovered a “missing link” in the structure of a transmembrane receptor that could lead to new treatments for autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.