中国科学院心理研究所机构知识库

Increasing efforts to identify alternate expressions of neuropsychiatric disorders that are broader than the DSM or ICD diagnostic criteria needed to diagnose them reflects a growing consensus that multidimensional expressions of neuropsychiatric disorders may advance the search for underlying etiological or modulatory factors. Endophenotypic research can be considered to be one of the most promising strategies to bridge the gap between genomic complexity and the phenotypic heterogeneity observed in neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the majority of endophenotype studies were limited to our western counterparts, very little has been done and initiated by scholars in mainland China. In this paper, we urge the need to establish a potential central consortium for endophenotypes to study neuropsychiatric disorders in mainland China. In particular, we illustrate a potential example of neurological soft signs in following the steps for building the consortium.

This work was supported partially by the Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-R-131), National Natural Science Foundation of China (30770723), National Outstanding Young Investigator Award (81088001), and a grant from National Basic Research Programme of China (973 Program) (2007CB512302). The funding agents had no role in the decision to publish, or to prepare the manuscript.