While the contribution of DISC1 to the etiology of SCZ and MDD remains unclear and somewhat controversial19,20, results from animal and cellular models have demonstrated that altering the expression levels of DISC1 protein results in a loss of dendritic spine density21–24, a result consistent with that seen in postmortem studies of patients with SCZ or MDD2,4,11. The gene discussed is DISC1; the disease is major depressive disorder.