Lieber Institute for Brain Development

The Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD) is a nonprofit research center located in Baltimore, Maryland, that studies brain development issues such as schizophrenia and autism. The cause of most neuropsychiatric disorders remains unknown and current therapies such as antipsychotics and antidepressants treat symptoms rather than the underlying illness. Lieber is working to unravel the biological basis of these brain disorders and is developing therapies to treat or prevent their development. History and description The Lieber Institute was started in 2010 by Steve and Connie Lieber along with Milton and Tamar Maltz—both families have children with schizophrenia. Psychiatrist Daniel R. Weinberger is the CEO. Having gathered over 3,000 brains for research purposes, the institute has the largest collection of post-mortem brains diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. These brains are used to study the biological basis for mental illnesses. In one study of post-mortem brains, LIBD researchers found that patients with schizophrenia had high levels of DNA methylation in brain regions associated with risk for schizophrenia. They are also developing a drug to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder. Research and partnerships In 2011, researchers who later joined the Lieber Institute published a review of brain banks for studying diseases such as schizophrenia, alzheimer’s diseases, bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric illnesses. Postmortem human brain tissue is critical for advancing neurobiological studies of psychiatric illness. In a December 2015 paper in Neuron, the Lieber Institute announced the formation of a new consortium called BrainSeq, along with seven pharmaceutical partners. The consortium’s goal is to analyze post mortem brain samples for DNA, RNA and DNA-methylation differences establish a public database.