Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report they have identified a genetic variation in the brain tissue of a subset of deceased people — some with typical mental health and some with schizophrenia or other psychoses — that may influence cognition and IQ. In the process, they unearthed biochemical details about how the gene operates.

Results of their work, described in the Dec. 1 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, could advance the development of drugs that target the enzyme made by this gene, and thus improve cognition in some people with serious mental illnesses or other conditions that cause reduced capacity in learning and memory.