Neuropsychiatric Laboratory

Genetic variation between individuals occurs at approximately three million locations in our chromosomal DNA. These variations cause dramatic differences in the metabolism of specific therapeutic medicines across the population. Genetic testing of specific genes will enable personalised drug selection, drug dose and a reduction in side effects.

DNA collected from individuals will have specific gene regions prepared with adapters and barcoded by polymerase chain reaction to prepare a library for next-generation sequencing. More than 100 possible diploid polymorphisms will be determined using bioinformatic sequence analysis. Each set of characterised allelic variants will be converted into enzyme activity scores to produce pharmacogenetic phenotypes.