Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR)


http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au

Associate Professor Sibylle Schwab

Sibylle Schwab

Associate Professor Sibylle Schwab has been appointed by the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research and the School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia in December 2003 as Principal Research Fellow.

In 1994, she received her PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of Munich, Germany for a thesis on linkage association and gene expression in schizophrenia. She analysed chromosome wide linkage, association of candidate genes and performed experiments of differentially expressed genes in material extracted from post mortem brain sections from schizophrenic patients and controls.

In 1996 she started her post doctoral time with Professor Maier and Professor Wildenauer at the University of Bonn, with a main focus on linkage and association studies in schizophrenia and addiction. From December 2000 to February 2001, she was a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Ma, USA and working together with Eric Lander and Pamela Sklar on fine mapping of a schizophrenia susceptibility locus using high throughput genotyping methodology.

She is the Chairperson of the Seminar Committee at WAIMR.

Qualifications

1994PhD - Biochemistry, University of Munich, Germany

Research Interests

  • Genetics of schizophrenia
  • Analysis of candidate genes and gene regions
  • Linkage analysis and association / linkage disequilibrium
  • Identification and characterisation of DNA variants associated with schizophrenia

Awards and Honours

1996Kurt Schneider Prize (together with W. Maier and P. Franke)
1998Young Scientist Award, Biennial Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia
2002Senior Scientist Award, Biennial Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia
2006Senior Scientist Award, Biennial Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia

Top 10 Publications

  1. Levinson DF, Holmans PA, Laurent C, Riley B, Pulver AE, Gejman PV, Schwab SG, Williams NM, Owen MJ, Wildenauer DB, Sanders AR, Nestadt G, Mowry BJ, Wormley B, Bauche S, Soubigou S, Ribble R, Nertney DA, Liang KY, Martinolich L, Maier W, Norton N, Williams H, Albus M, Carpenter EB, DeMarchi N, Ewen-White KR, Walsh D, Jay M, Deleuze JF, O'Neill FA, Papadimitriou G, Weilbaecher A, Lerer B, O'Donovan MC, Dikeos D, Silverman JM, Kendler KS, Mallet J, Crowe RR, Walters M. 2002. No major schizophrenia locus detected on chromosome 1q in a large multicenter sample. Science 296:739-41.
  2. Sklar P, Schwab SG, Williams NM, Daly M, Schaffner S, Maier W, Albus M, Trixler M, Eichhammer P, Lerer B, Hallmayer J, Norton N, Williams H, Zammit S, Cardno AG, Jones S, McCarthy G, Milanova V, Kirov G, O'Donovan MC, Lander ES, Owen MJ, Wildenauer DB. 2001. Association analysis of NOTCH4 loci in schizophrenia using family and population-based controls. Nat Genet 28:126-8.
  3. Schwab SG, Albus M, Hallmayer J, Honig S, Borrmann M, Lichtermann D, Ebstein RP, Ackenheil M, Lerer B, Risch N, Maier W, Wildenauer DB. 1995. Evaluation of a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia on chromosome 6p by multipoint affected sib-pair linkage analysis. Nat Genet 11:325-7.
  4. Schwab SG, Scherer J, Wildenauer DB. 1994. Presymptomatic testing in families with Wilson's disease. Lancet 343:1637-8.
  5. Xu K, Lichtermann D, Lipsky RH, Franke P, Liu X, Hu Y, Cao L, Schwab SG, Wildenauer DB, Bau CH, Ferro E, Astor W, Finch T, Terry J, Taubman J, Maier W, Goldman D. 2004. Association of specific haplotypes of D2 dopamine receptor gene with vulnerability to heroin dependence in 2 distinct populations. Arch Gen Psychiatry 61:597-606.
  6. Schwab SG, Knapp M, Mondabon S, Hallmayer J, Borrmann-Hassenbach M, Albus M, Lerer B, Rietschel M, Trixler M, Maier W, Wildenauer DB. 2003. Support for association of schizophrenia with genetic variation in the 6p22.3 gene, Dysbindin, in sib-pair families with linkage and in an additional sample of triad families. Am J Hum Genet 72:185-90.
  7. Lewis CM, Levinson DF, Wise LH, DeLisi LE, Straub RE, Hovatta I, Williams NM, Schwab SG, Pulver AE, Faraone SV, Brzustowicz LM, Kaufmann CA, Garver DL, Gurling HM, Lindholm E, Coon H, Moises HW, Byerley W, Shaw SH, Mesen A, Sherrington R, O'Neill FA, Walsh D, Kendler KS, Ekelund J, Paunio T, Lonnqvist J, Peltonen L, O'Donovan MC, Owen MJ, Wildenauer DB, Maier W, Nestadt G, Blouin JL, Antonarakis SE, Mowry BJ, Silverman JM, Crowe RR, Cloninger CR, Tsuang MT, Malaspina D, Harkavy-Friedman JM, Svrakic DM, Bassett AS, Holcomb J, Kalsi G, McQuillin A, Brynjolfson J, Sigmundsson T, Petursson H, Jazin E, Zoega T, Helgason T. 2003. Genome scan meta-analysis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, part II: schizophrenia. Am J Hum Genet 73:34-48.
  8. Levinson DF, Holmans P, Straub RE, Owen MJ, Wildenauer DB, Gejman PV, Pulver AE, Laurent C, Kendler KS, Walsh D, Norton N, Williams NM, Schwab SG, Lerer B, Mowry BJ, Sanders AR, Antonarakis SE, Blouin JL, DeLeuze JF, Mallet J. 2000. Multicenter linkage study of schizophrenia candidate regions on chromosomes 5q, 6q, 10p, and 13q: schizophrenia linkage collaborative group III. Am J Hum Genet 67:652-63.
  9. Holinski-Feder E, Reyniers E, Uhrig S, Golla A, Wauters J, Kroisel P, Bossuyt P, Rost I, Jedele K, Zierler H, Schwab S, Wildenauer D, Speicher MR, Willems PJ, Meitinger T, Kooy RF. 2000. Familial mental retardation syndrome ATR-16 due to an inherited cryptic subtelomeric translocation, t(3;16)(q29;p13.3). Am J Hum Genet 66:16-25.
  10. Schwab SG, Hallmayer J, Lerer B, Albus M, Borrmann M, Honig S, Strauss M, Segman R, Lichtermann D, Knapp M, Trixler M, Maier W, Wildenauer DB. 1998. Support for a chromosome 18p locus conferring susceptibility to functional psychoses in families with schizophrenia, by association and linkage analysis. Am J Hum Genet 63:1139-52.