# Transcription factor function in healthy and psychiatric disorder-affected brains

> **NIH NIH R01** · HUDSON-ALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY · 2020 · $1,141,905

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The goal of this R01 proposal is to probe deeply into the regulatory processes that underlie biological diversity
within brain tissue samples from individuals free of psychiatric disorder and individuals with bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia, or major depressive disorder. This proposal combines unique experimental and analytical
innovations and a high-quality data production pipeline. High-quality dissected tissue from 9 anatomical sub-
regions from each of 4 post-mortem human brains free of psychiatric disease will be analyzed, along with
neuronal cell lines from 4 individuals collected by PsychENCODE investigators. Genome-wide binding profiles
from “ChIP-seq” experiments for 100 transcription factors will be measured across these tissue and cell types.
In addition, 6 of the key transcription factors will be analyzed in 2 brain regions from 96 individuals, including
individuals that were free of psychiatric disease (n=24) or had bipolar disorder (n=24), schizophrenia (n=24), or
major depressive disorder (n=24. These data will be used to assess the hypothesis that differential
transcription factor activity contributes directly to the risk and manifestation of disease, and is motivated by
previous observations from our groups of disease-associated transcriptional changes in brain tissue. Further,
integrative analyses of all these data, along with measurements of transcripts, DNA methylation, and other
data types that will be generated, will greatly enhance our understanding of the functional variability between
people and across different brain regions within a given person. These data will furthermore result in the
characterization of differences between healthy and disorder-affected individuals that may point to genes and
pathways that are of special diagnostic, prognostic, or therapeutic value. Finally, these data will be shared to
the greatest extent possible to substantially expand the depth and quality of brain tissue data resources
accessible to the broader research community to reduce the medical burden of psychiatric disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9956717
- **Project number:** 5R01MH110472-04
- **Recipient organization:** HUDSON-ALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Gregory Michael Cooper
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,141,905
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9956717

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9956717, Transcription factor function in healthy and psychiatric disorder-affected brains (5R01MH110472-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9956717. Licensed CC0.

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