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Lieber Institute for Brain Development

The Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD) is a privately funded biomedical research institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Its focus is to understand the origins of schizophrenia, autism, and related developmental brain disorders, and translate this information into new treatments. LIBD is the only research institute in the world that seeks to identify the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors that shape brain development from the early embryo to later life, and uses that information to develop new therapies (http://www.libd.org).

LIBD is a unique public-private partnership, born of scientific and financial collaborations with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), private philanthropy, select academic institutions, industry, and biotechnology. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and a Maryland tax-exempt academic research institution. The LIBD Board of Directors is responsible for strategic planning, oversight, and executive management. The Institute’s independent Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of leading scientists engaged in work related to LIBD projects.

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Fast facts about the Lieber Institute for Brain Development Established: 2010 Location: Baltimore, MD Research type: Clinical, basic, and translational Research fields: Brain development, schizophrenia, brain disorders, genetics, neuroimaging, stem cell research, molecular biology, animal models, drug development Director and CEO: Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D. Affiliations: Johns Hopkins University, Peking University, University of Bari, NIMH]

Mission

The mission of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development is to translate the understanding of basic genetic and molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia and related developmental brain disorders into clinical advances that change the lives of affected individuals.

History

Origin of LIBD (http://libd.org/research-activities/our-news/2010). LIBD was conceived from the realization that a new approach is needed to take full advantage of the unprecedented opportunities for identifying the causes of major mental illnesses and use that information to develop effective treatments. LIBD scientists aim to transform the research landscape in two waysby providing new tools for scientific discovery, and developing new collaborative approaches to achieve the Institute’s ambitious mission.

Founders (http://www.libd.org/about-us/founders). LIBD is a remarkable partnership between outstanding scientists and passionate family members committed to the same goals. Founders of the Institute include Steve and Connie Lieber, who are leading public advocates and philanthropic supporters of mental illness and schizophrenia research in the United States and around the globe. They provided the inspirational leadership of NARSAD (now the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation), and more recently helped establish LIBD. Steve Lieber is the founder and managing partner of Alpine Woods Investments of Purchase, New York.

Milton and Tamar Maltz, who have a long history of philanthropy, also helped to found LIBD. Milton Maltz previously served as Chairman and CEO of Malrite Communications Group, Inc., which became one of the most successful operators of radio and television properties in the country.

Leadership

The core LIBD leadership team (http://www.libd.org/about-us/our-team) includes:

Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D., Director and CEO; head of the Clinical Sciences Division Ronald D. McKay, Ph.D., head of the Basic Sciences Division Solomon Snyder, M.D., head of the Drug Discovery Division Thomas M. Hyde, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer Tara Eskandari, M.S., Chief Administrative officer

Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D., became Director and CEO of LIBD in the summer of 2011 after leaving the National Institute of Mental Health where he was head of the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program. Dr. Weinberger is known internationally for his research on schizophrenia and imaging genetics. He was instrumental in focusing research on the role of abnormal brain development as a risk factor for schizophrenia.

Ron McKay, Ph.D, is the LIBD Director for Basic Sciences. Before joining the Lieber Institute, Dr. McKay was Chief of the Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He identified neural stem cells as a tool to study brain development and function. His research at the Lieber Institute is focused on using the biology of stem cells to understand the genetic basis of human disease.

Research [Photo – fMRI or fluorescent neurons in vitro]

LIBD is the only research institute in the world that focuses on early embryonic development as a key to understanding and treating schizophrenia, autism, and related developmental brain disorders. LIBD scientists seek to understand what goes wrong during brain development in individuals diagnosed with major neuropsychiatric disorders, and how information about the causes of these conditions can be used to treat them.

Recent evidence indicates that genetic factors increase the risk an individual will develop a major brain disorder. In many people with serious mental disordersschizophrenia, autism, major depression, and bipolar disorder, for examplenormal pathways of brain development are altered and associated with specific sets of gene variants. An important step in defining mechanisms through which genes confer risk for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia is to identify brain phenotypes modulated by risk genes and show that these phenotypes truly reflect genetic risk, i.e., they are biological intermediate phenotypes.

At LIBD, primary areas of research are genetics, molecular biology of the human brain, brain imaging, drug development, animal modeling, and stem cell research. A key objective is to understand how environmental and genetic factors interact to increase the risk of developing a brain disorder. Related research involves: (1) brain imaging to map gene effects on functions of the brain that represent illness-associated intermediate phenotypes; (2) understanding how genes work in neural systems to increase susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders; (3) and assessing the genetics of brain tissue samples obtained post-mortem from people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, autism and other brain disorders, and controls.

LIBD scientists also generate transgenic rodents that carry human risk genes for schizophrenia, assess behavior and brain physiology in these animal models, and evaluate the activity of individual brain neurons and circuits in tissue obtained from transgenic rodents. Stem cell research at the Institute is aimed at understanding fundamental mechanisms of brain development and identifying genes that regulate these developmental processes. Drug development is based on understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms that increase an individual’s risk for developing a major brain disorder.

Organizational Structure

The organizational structure of LIBD consists of three interactive research divisions that are organized to support the primary areas of research: Clinical Sciences Division, Basic Sciences Division, and Drug Discovery (http://www.libd.org/about-us/organization).

Clinical Sciences (http://www.libd.org/research-activities/research/clinical-sciences). Scientists in the Clinical Sciences Division investigate the developmental errors that underlie schizophrenia and related brain disorders, and correlate them with abnormalities in adult brain function and molecular changes in human brain tissue. LIBD has a massive and growing resource of neuroimaging and cognitive data on over 3,000 individuals, including the healthy siblings of ill subjects, and human cell lines derived from these individuals. Also, in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Peking University in Beijing, and the University of Bari in Bari, Italy, LIBD scientists are studying biological material from additional clinical samples. Research programs within the Clinical Sciences Division include Genetics, Epigenetics and Bioinformatics, Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging Genetics, and Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenetics.

Basic Sciences (http://www.libd.org/research-activities/research/basic-sciences). The goal of the Basic Sciences Division of the Lieber Institute is to establish a comprehensive and holistic model of human brain development, and use it to probe the origins of psychiatric illness. Scientists are developing human and animal model systems that allow the manipulation of molecular signals and pathways in the laboratory, and exploration of how brain circuits form and work in vitro. The model systems also are used to study the key regulatory events that control neural circuit formation. Further, through the power of stem cell technology, scientists are asking how certain human genes, including those associated with schizophrenia, alter brain circuit formation and function.

Drug Discovery (http://www.libd.org/research-activities/research/drug-discovery). Scientists in the Drug Discovery Division use information about the genetic underpinnings of developmental brain disorders to identify new targets for drug discovery. The goal is to validate innovative approaches that will lead to novel medicines for patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disease. The Drug Discovery Division maintains a state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry laboratory, and has unique capabilities for identifying and validating molecular targets such as specific enzymes and ion channels that function abnormally in schizophrenia and related brain disorders. Research programs within the Drug Discovery Division include medicinal chemistry and assay development, which are integrated across other LIBD research activities.

Facilities

Facilities (http://libd.org/about-us/facility). LIBD is located in the new Johns Hopkins Bioscience Park, a dramatic inner-city reconstruction and expansion of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Medical Campus, which will include several new medical research buildings, condominiums, a hotel, and commercial spaces. The first research building, the Rangos Building at 855 North Wolfe Street in Baltimore, MD, was completed in April 2009. The Lieber Institute is its largest non-JHU tenant. The Institute currently occupies a floor of this building, approximately 48,000 square feet.

The Institute’s facilities include a large, fully outfitted state-of-the-art general laboratory and specialty in-house facilities for organic chemistry, genetics, cell and tissue culture, advanced imaging and laser capture microscopy, neuropathology, molecular biology, electrophysiology, and animal physiology and behavioral testing.

References

LIBD website: www.libd.org Mission: http://www.libd.org/about-us/mission Organization: http://www.libd.org/about-us/organization New Brain Research Institute Chooses Home In Johns Hopkins Bioscience Park http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/New_Brain_Research_Institute_Chooses_Home_In_Johns_Hopkins_Bioscience_Park Origin: http://libd.org/research-activities/our-news/2010 Founders: http://www.libd.org/about-us/founders Gala marks opening of Lieber Institute for Brain Development http://archive.gazette.jhu.edu/2011/11/14/gala-marks-opening-of-lieber-institute-for-brain-development/ Brain institute takes 30,000 s.f. at Hopkins biopark http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2010/05/24/daily25.html Leadership: http://www.libd.org/about-us/our-team A radical approach to mental illness http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110906/full/477146a.html Clinical Sciences Division: http://www.libd.org/research-activities/research/clinical-sciences Basic Sciences Division: http://www.libd.org/research-activities/research/basic-sciences Drug Discovery: http://www.libd.org/research-activities/research/drug-discovery Facility: http://libd.org/about-us/facility