Jennifer Forsyth

Research

The emergence of psychotic symptoms and related impairments in adolescence or early adulthood associated with schizophrenia can be devastating for patients and their families. Understanding why these symptoms emerge for some individuals and not others, with the long-term aim to improve our ability to alter illness trajectory or even prevent psychotic symptom onset, is the primary focus of my research. I am particularly interested in understanding the pathways from genes to neural- and systems-level dysfunction in psychotic disorders, including understanding how variability in genetic factors contributes to variability in clinical presentation among patients. I am also interested in understanding how genetic and environmental factors shape broader psychiatric and related phenotypes, including understanding how specific genetic variants, such as known, pathogenic copy number variants, contribute to risk for multiple psychiatric disorders. To pursue these questions, my lab incorporates genetic, neuroimaging (i.e., MRI and EEG), and behavioral methods.