SearchThe Smith Lab investigates biological abnormalities in psychiatric illness, and conducts clinical trials of drugs and stimulating devices which may improve psychiatric symptoms or cognition.
We are currently focusing primarily on research in schizophrenia, but will also be looking at some of these issues in collaborative studies in patients with autism, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease or related conditions.
We have looked at smoking and nicotine effects in schizophrenia; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) as a treatment or intervention modality; and epigenetic abnormalities which can be assessed in peripheral blood cells of schizophrenic patients.
In some of these studies we collaborate with Dr. Sershen and Dr. Lajtha in the Neurochemistry Department, and with Dr. Guidotti’s lab at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
We have a history of previous research in metabolic abnormalities produced by antipsychotic drugs, their relationship to genetic abnormalities, and their potential treatment with accessory drugs such as metformin or pioglitazone.