SMRI research - an interview with Dr. Torrey

TAC relies on its supporting organization, the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI), to carry out research to ascertain the causes of and develop better treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In the following interview with Robin Cunningham Dr. E. Fuller Torrey - TAC’s president and director of laboratory research at SMRI- talks about possible causes of and treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Torrey and his colleagues have been looking very intently at infectious agents as possible causes of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

"Probably there are four [infectious agents] that have really come to the front of it," he continued. "My first choice is Toxoplasma gondii, which is a parasite that is carried by cats... This is an area of great interest. The other infectious [agents] are viruses...cytomegalovirus, which is a herpes virus; herpes simplex viruses (HSV1 and HSV2); and endogenous retroviruses."

Dr. Torrey has published a number of papers on the evidence linking infectious agents to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Most recently, he and Dr. Robert Yolken co-edited six papers on Toxoplasma gondii as a possible cause of schizophrenia that were published in the June 2007 issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin. These presented work from both their laboratories and from other researchers.

I asked him to elaborate on the potential connection between cats and schizophrenia…

More of Dr. Torrey’s interview with Robin Cunningham can be found on Schizophrenia Connection.