Local News in Brief : Irvine : UCI Awarded Grant for Schizophrenia Center

UC Irvine’s College of Medicine has received a $3.1-million, 5-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to establish a research center for schizophrenia.

UCI is one of only four American universities designated by NIMH to receive a schizophrenia center grant.

The money will support 24 investigators conducting more than 40 research projects, said Dr. William Bunney, chairman of the UCI psychiatry department and a principal investigator.

Investigators at UCI’s Brain Imaging Center will use a brain-scanning device called a PETscan to compare brain function in schizophrenic and normal individuals. Other studies will examine how chemicals such as peptides and neurotransmitters affect mental activity.

Bunney said researchers also will study how drugs such as phencyclidine (PCP) induce classic symptoms of schizophrenia.