The Future of Clinical Neuroscience Research: Genomes and Neural Circuits

Psychiatric disorders present a unique challenge, even relative to other brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, or Parkinson's diseases, because for psychiatric disorders we know much less about underlying genetic, molecular, and cellular causes or even the primary anatomical sites of the brain defects. This frustrating lack of progress requires us to confront the complexity of the brain, especially in the context of higher-order functions, such as cognition and mood. This calls for a new perspective and a combination of novel tools and analytical methods.