Jingchun Chen (Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine) received a UNLV IDeA Pilot Grant in the amount of $69,300 for her pilot study to develop a cellular model of microglia for schizophrenia research. Microglia are a type of white blood cell found in the brain and spinal cord that provides immune defense to the central nervous system. The study seeks to establish induced microglia-like cells (iMGCs) from monocytes, another type of white blood cell, and validate iMGCs through their signature and function. This will help inform the design of future research studies on schizophrenia.
