Landmark Gene Discovery Open The Black Box Of Schizophrenia By Carey Goldberg

The article Landmark Gene Discovery Open the Black Box of Schizophrenia, written by Carey Goldberg revolves around the life of Sydney and her bout with schizophrenia as well as the discovery of the C4 gene. When Sydney was a senior in high school, she started experiencing delusions and hallucinations which took the forms of demons, President Barack Obama, and other menacing figures. Furthermore, she believed that Justin Bieber was her boyfriend and later on was her husband. Sydney was diagnosed with schizophrenia by a doctor she and her mother Lori went to see after Sydney made her condition aware to her teacher. After being diagnosed, Sydney was enrolled in the Center of Early Detection, Assessment, & Response to Risk (CEDAR). The psychologists

Today, Sydney has finished her degree at a community college and is a mentor to those who are suffering from psychological disorder. The question that then remains to be said is how Sydney who was just like any normal girl growing up and so many like her were able to contract schizophrenia? Aswin Sekar, a scientist studying at Harvard Medical School, who discovered the the C4 gene would be able to shed some light. Through his research, Aswin Sekar found that people who had schizophrenia also had high levels of the C4 gene which became the basis for his hypothesis. The C4 gene is responsible for targeting viruses and synapses in the brain for cell destruction. Aswin Sekar reasoned that the C4 gene leads to 'over - pruning' in the brain which will eventually lead to the deterioration of neural connections and disorders such as schizophrenia. This has opened a whole new frontier and furthered scientist's understanding of schizophrenia. My thought and reactions are that i'm still perplexed at how a girl such as Sydney who, "grew up loving dance and Disney princesses" just snapped one day and started seeing monsters come out of her