Grant: Operating Grant

In some people the initiation of voluntary movements on one side of the body leads to identical involuntary movements on the other side. Very recently one of the genes ('DCC') was identified. By coincidence the DCC gene has been studied extensively in animal models. The affected animals also show movement disturbances as well as altered brain wiring ('connectivity') and changes in the brain pathways that release dopamine, a chemical transmitter known to affect responses to rewards including drugs of abuse. Based on these observations, we now plan to use modern neuroimaging methods to map (i) brain wiring and function in motor pathways, and (ii) dopamine function in reward pathways in people who carry the DCC mutation. The results are expected to substantially help us understand this specific disorder and more broadly how certain genes guide brain development and the tendency toward various biological and behavioral traits. With this information, new directions could be developed for treating neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.