In order to understand the pathophysiology of a disease, it is very important to get a picture of the changes in proteins within these patients. Proteins play a crucial role in the structure, the function and the regulation of cells and tissues. All proteins in a biological system (a cell, a tissue or an organisms), in a certain condition at a certain time is called the proteome. In recent years, many techniques have been developed in order to identify and quantify the proteome. All proteomic analyses on brains of schizophrenia patients so far have been designed in order to match for age, duration of illness and use of anti-psychotic medication. Moreover, other studies have shown that anti-psychotic medication as well as duration of illness have a structural and functional impact on the brains of schizophrenia patients. 

This project investigates the impact of anti-psychotic medication and duration of illness on the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We compare the proteome of post-mortem brain tissue of schizophrenia patients (with and without anti-psychotic medication) with that of controls. 

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Funding: PZ Duffel, BOF and VIB-DMG

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