Vanessa Goncalves

Research Synopsis

Dr. Gonçalves has multidisciplinary background in statistical genetics and molecular biology. Her primary research focuses on the investigation is the genetic underpinning neuropsychiatric disorders. She is particularly interested to understand the role of mitochondrial gene variants in the risk for and phenomenology of neuropsychiatric disorders. Her research portfolio includes pharmacogenetic studies focusing on the mitochondrial system, especially its effects on treatment response.

She aims to translate her clinically relevant findings to improve the quality of patient care in psychiatry; such research findings include discovery of novel biomarkers for genes underlying psychiatric treatment response, factors contributing to reduced side-effects and incidence of medication failure, and enhanced diagnostics and therapies for psychiatric patients.