Mission

Imaging genetics combines advances in the fields of genetics and neuroimaging in the study of disease. Imaging genetics uses the current boom in technology allowing for very thorough genotyping and high-resolution imaging data from the same subject, so that the genetic effects on function and dysfunction can be measured.

The promise of imaging genetics is to achieve a deep understanding of individual differences in the way we respond, and in the development of individualized or personalized medicine. The researchers in the Institute are dedicated to applying imaging genetics to the study of the cause and treatments of disease.

The figure below shows metabolic changes with haloperidol by different dopamine receptor (D3) genotypes.  Subjects with the “gly/gly” genotype are on the left; subjects with other genotypes are in the middle image; the gly/gly genotype subjects showed greater glucose uptake in areas of the striatum than did subjects with the other genotypes (right image). This supports the finding that subjects with the “gly/gly”genotype is more likely to develop movement disorder side effects on particular treatments (see bar graph on the right).

Every year we support the International Imaging Genetics Conference. Previous speakers and presentations can be found here: www.imaginggenetics.uci.edu

More information regarding the researchers in the Imaging Genetics network across various University of California campuses can be found using the links to the left. Examples of recent findings are in the Publications listing.