Global DNA Collection Kicks Off in Africa, Aiming to Decode Psychiatric Disease

Researchers push to harvest blood and saliva samples to broaden genetic library to better treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Several dozen African clinics and hospitals are the latest front in the battle to decipher the genetic roots of the little-understood diseases schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Scientists currently search for hints in genetic databases largely extracted from European and North American populations. That means they may be missing genetic variants in other populations that could help explain how the diseases develop—and how to treat them.

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