Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium

The Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium is a collaborative enterprise that seeks to discover the neurobiological and genetic causes of three major psychiatric disorders, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The Pritzker Consortium also seeks to identify biomarkers for better diagnosis and novel targets for [...] development to treat these illnesses.

Member Institutions

The Pritzker Consortium includes over 100 scientists from six institutions: Stanford University, the University of California, Irvine, the University of California, Davis, the University of Michigan, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and Cornell University.

Scientific Approach

The Pritzker Consortium brings together scientists and clinicians to confront identify the pathophysiology of psychiatric diseases. It includes neuroscientists, psychiatrists, geneticists, statisticians and informaticians.

Scientific Accomplishments

Using the above approach, the Pritzker Consortium has made several significant discoveries of relevance to the translational approach to discover biomarkers and novel targets for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. These have been described in a series of scientific publications that have arisen from the Consortium. One example is the discovery that the fibroblast growth factor family is altered in severe depression. Subsequent work demonstrated that fibroblast growth factor 2 plays a role in emotional behavior.

History

In 1977, Jay Pritzker, a successful Chicago investor and founder of the Hyatt hotel chain, and his wife Cindy endowed a Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Professorship at Stanford University, in memory of their daughter, Stanford alumna Nancy Friend Pritzker.

The current Pritzker Consortium grew out of The Nancy F. Pritzker Network on Depression, a collaborative effort established in 1996 by Mr. and Mrs. Jay Pritzker to encourage small, innovative projects across the three founder institutions – Stanford University, Cornell University and the University of Michigan.

Social Structure

The Consortium exemplifies a rare type of scientific enterprise in neuroscience. Beyond undertaking the major challenge of understanding the pathophysiology of psychiatric disease at a molecular and neural level, the Pritzker Consortium confronts a central tension in biomedical research: encouraging independent and innovative research especially in young investigators, and yet creating a well integrated large team that tackles problems that cannot be resolved by individual labs.

Funding

The Pritzker Consortium is funded by the Pritzker Family. The Pritzkers include philanthropy as one of their core values and have made significant contributions in many areas including science, education, art and architecture. The Pritzker Family has also founded the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Site Directors

The Pritzker Consortium is led by the Site Directors, who are senior scientists at each of the six sites. The Site Directors work together to frame the overall scientific program of the Consortium, define specific experimental priorities and approaches, and oversee the translation of the findings for clinical applications.

• Huda Akil, Ph.D.
• Jack D. Barchas, M.D.
• William E. Bunney, M.D.
• Edward G. Jones, M.D., Ph.D.
• Richard M. Myers, Ph.D.
• Alan Schatzberg, M.D.
• Stanley J. Watson, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.

Scientific Advisors

The Pritzker Consortium is reviewed periodically by a Board of Scientific Advisors that evaluates its structure and infrastructure, its scientific accomplishments and its future plans. The board is composed of world-class scientists who bring academic, translational and business perspectives to this evaluation.

• Dr. Floyd E. Bloom
• Dr. David A. Hamburg
• Dr. Bruce McEwen
• Dr. Steven M. Paul

External Links

• Huda Akil at the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute
• Jack D. Barchas at Weill Cornell Medical College
• William Bunney at UC Irvine
• Edward G. Jones at UC Davis Center for Neuroscience
• Richard Meyers at the HudsonAlpha Institute
• Alan Schatzberg at Stanford University
• Stanley Watson at the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute
• Floyd E. Bloom at AAAS
• David Hamburg at NTI
• Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller University
• Steven M. Paul at Forbes