Cyndi's Team
The team at the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory* is made up of 16 scientists, students and researchers. Here three of the team working with Prof. Cyndi Shannon Weickert at the Lab discuss their work, career and passion for schizophrenia research.
Dr Vibeke S. Catts
Vibeke aspired to be a schizophrenia researcher since her days as an undergraduate in molecular biology. But none of her initial roles allowed her to primarily focus on schizophrenia.
It wasn’t until she began working in the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory in 2008 that she felt she was able to work effectively on the illness.
“The Schizophrenia Research Laboratory provides a great environment for students to train in schizophrenia research, something I wish had been available years ago when I first commenced my training.”
“It has taken determination and patience to end up where I am today, dedicated to researching an illness that has affected some members of my family,” Vibeke said.
She credits her husband (and Institute founding Chairman) Prof. Stan Catts for influencing her work in this field, but watching some of her loved ones become more restricted because of their illness has reinforced to her why she chose this path.
One of Vibeke’s next projects is to establish a new technique called cell fractionation in the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory. “This technique involves separating components of nerve cells, such as cell body and nerve endings to look more closely for changes in neural sub-compartments specialized for communication.”
“We constantly need to optimise the tools we use to investigate the processes that can go wrong in schizophrenia,” she said.
“Better tools equals a clearer picture.”
“It is very satisfying to work in a laboratory dedicated to schizophrenia research, being part of a larger team and feeling that my work is valued and contributing to a larger effort,” Vibeke said.
Stuart Fillman, PHD Student
Stu didn’t set out to work in schizophrenia research. But his work at the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory has allowed him to connect his greatest areas of interest: computers, medicine and the brain.
“I’ve been lucky enough to end up in a niche that allows me to work with cutting edge technology on schizophrenia, an area that is both fascinating and of vital medical importance,” Stu said.
The large amount of information that Stu deals with is the biggest challenge he faces. Using a combination of statistics and existing scientific knowledge, he makes decisions about what would be the best target to examine. He is currently working on measuring 33, 528 genes in a single sample at once and doing this for 40 people, (half with schizophrenia) means that over 1.3 million genes can be compared.
“We have reached the end of individual scientists toiling away in the darkness to produce key discoveries one by one. The leaps in our understanding about complex topics such as schizophrenia come from applying the latest in high throughput tools and interaction with colleagues. Collaboration is more than a buzzword, it’s necessary to bring together the diverse skills that take individuals a lifetime to curate.”
“I think before working on schizophrenia research I didn’t understand this. That’s a real strength of the Schizophrenia Research Institute and something I’m proud to be a part of,” he said.
Dr Samantha Fung, Research Officer
Samantha has always been intrigued by the development of the brain: how do cells get to where they need to be and how they communicate with other cells? This curiosity sparked her interest in schizophrenia, and trying to find out how the normal development of the brain is somehow derailed.
Samantha enjoys the challenges of her work, endeavouring to piece together the clues of what is already known about schizophrenia to ask new questions, and trying to find a way to answer them. “It’s like solving a gigantic puzzle with many of the pieces missing, but with enough to see the objects taking shape,” Samantha said.
“It’s exciting to know that we are making discoveries about how different systems fit together and that we are helping to build a picture of what might be going wrong in the brain of someone with schizophrenia.”
“This is key to finding new and effective ways to help people with the illness,” she said.
One of the challenges of studying schizophrenia is that there is no single pathology. Schizophrenia presents with symptoms that can vary between individuals, and it is likely that these people are at different stages of the illness or could have different pathologies resulting in similar diagnoses.
“If we are able to identify different disease stages or pathologies, then we will have the advantage of being able to customise more effective treatments for patients,” she said.
“We are lucky in the Schizophrenia Research Institute to have a network of scientists with different strengths, and to have collaborations with some of the best minds in the field. Coming from a molecular background this has been a valuable asset and has taught me to think about how our findings can be integrated at multiple levels, from cells to the clinic.”
*The Schizophrenia Research Laboratory is a joint initiative of the Schizophrenia Research Institute, University of NSW, Neuroscience Research Australia, and the Macquarie Group Foundation. It is supported by NSW Health.
