Vincenzo De Luca, M.D., Ph.D.

2014 Alexander Gralnick Award Recipient

Lecture: HPA Axis Genes Interact with Childhood Trauma to Increase the Risk of Attempting Suicide (presented at IPS)

Dr. De Luca is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. His research activity as an academic psychiatrist in the area of non-affective psychosis has focused mainly on the genetics of schizophrenia. In the past five years, he has published 43 peer-review papers in schizophrenia research and lead or senior/corresponding authors in 25. Recently, Dr. De Luca has secured a five-year grant the Canadian Federal Funding Agency to study genetics and epigenetics of the serotonin system in schizophrenia: investigating CpG SNP mapping, methylation and allelic imbalance analysis in 500 schizophrenia patients. Additionally, he continues to perform basic research in schizophrenia, investigating the gene activity of neurotransmitter receptors that are the target of antipsychotics.