The Search for Schizophrenia Genes

摘要

To gain insight into the biological basis of disease, Presi-dent Obama launched the Precision Medicine Initiative in January 2015. A major aspiration of the program is to identify the genetic underpinnings of disease. Some commentators have questioned whether this research agenda has more to do with science or politics. In a New York Times op-ed, Dr. Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist and physiologist at the Mayo Clinic, pointed out some reasons to be skeptical. In Joyner's words, "no clear genetic story has emerged for a vast majority of cases." The title of his piece summed up his conclusion: "'Moonshot' Medicine Will Let Us Down." In other words, we are spending a lot of money on something with questionable utility, and even when we do find genetic variants that contribute to risk, their predictive power is based on environment, culture, and behavior.