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Psychiatric genetics in China

Psychiatric genetics in China: achievements and challenges

Molecular Psychiatry volume 21, pages 4–9 (2016)Cite this article

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To coordinate research efforts in psychiatric genetics in China, a group of Chinese and foreign investigators have established an annual ‘Summit on Chinese Psychiatric Genetics’ to present their latest research and discuss the current state and future directions of this field. To date, two summits have been held, the first in Changsha in April 2014, and the second in Kunming in April 2015. The consensus of roundtable discussions held at these meetings is that psychiatric genetics in China is in need of new policies to promote collaborations aimed at creating a framework for genetic research appropriate for the Chinese population: relying solely on Caucasian population-based studies may result in missed opportunities to diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders. In addition, participants agree on the importance of promoting collaborations and data sharing in areas where China has especially strong resources, such as advanced facilities for nonhuman primate studies and traditional Chinese medicine: areas that may also provide overseas investigators with unique research opportunities. In this paper, we present an overview of the current state of psychiatric genetics research in China, with emphasis on genome-level studies, and describe challenges and opportunities for future advances, particularly at the dawn of ‘precision medicine’. Together, we call on administrative bodies, funding agencies, the research community and the public at large for increased support for research on the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders in the Chinese population. In our opinion, increased public awareness and effective collaborative research hold the keys to the future of psychiatric genetics in China.

The last decade has witnessed a rapid rise in psychiatric genetic research conducted in China and other countries in East Asia. Many researchers from these regions have also been collaborating with leading groups in Europe and America during this period. To assess the current state of psychiatric genetics in China and explore possibilities for increasing domestic and international collaborations, researchers convened in Changsha, Hunan Province, on 2nd and 3rd April 2014 for the First Summit on Chinese Psychiatric Genetics. The meeting was hosted by the State Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics and Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, both affiliated with Central South University. Participants included principal investigators from funded psychiatric genetics laboratories in Changsha, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Taipei, as well as several researchers from the United States and Germany.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Yin Yao for her significant contributions to this paper. Ms. Haiyan Tang assisted in data collection and summary.

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Author notes

  1. C Liu and D Saffen: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics of China, Central South University, Changsha, China

    C Liu, C Chen & K Xia

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    C Liu

  3. Department of Cellular and Genetic Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    D Saffen & L Chen

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany

    T G Schulze

  5. Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics, Ludwig Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    T G Schulze

  6. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    T G Schulze

  7. Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, University Medical Center Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

    T G Schulze

  8. Departments of Psychiatry, Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, Human Genetics and Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    M Burmeister

  9. Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    M Burmeister & Y Shi

  10. Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    P C Sham & M X Li

  11. Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, China

    Y-g Yao

  12. Department of Public Health and Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    P-H Kuo

  13. Institute of Biomedical Sciences and MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Y An

  14. Wuhan Institute for Neuroscience and Neuroengineering, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, China

    J Dai

  15. Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Institute of Mental Health, The Sixth Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China

    W Yue

  16. Division of Life Science and Applied Genomics Center, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong, China

    H Xue

  17. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology and Kunming Primate Research Centre, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China

    B Su

  18. Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory, School of Basic Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China

    M Qiao

  19. Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Psychological Healthcare, Shenzhen Institute of Mental Health, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, China

    T Liu

  20. School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China

    K Xia

  21. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    R C K Chan

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  1. C Liu
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  2. D Saffen
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  3. T G Schulze
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Correspondence to C Liu.

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Liu, C., Saffen, D., Schulze, T. et al. Psychiatric genetics in China: achievements and challenges. Mol Psychiatry 21, 4–9 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2015.95

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