Dr. Suzanne Gonzalez’s laboratory focuses on neuropsychiatric genetics in diverse populations. She is particularly interested in understanding how genetic polymorphisms within key physiological pathways translate into clinical phenotypes of psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Her long-standing goal is to identify population specific biomarkers, which can be used for early detection and better diagnosis and to monitor responses to therapy. She uses quantitative computational methods applied to microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies to better understand the biological functions of genes associated with clinical phenotypes, to assess genetic variants conferring risk of psychiatric disease in diverse populations, to identify how variations in the sequence of the genome may be associated with susceptibility and resistance to mental disorders and to understand how variations within the genome influence the expression of genes to alter mitochondrial function, circadian rhythms and behavior. Research in this field may aid in the development of novel and directed treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders in diverse populations.

Dr. Gonzalez is part of the mood disorders research lab area in the Department of Psychiatry.