A primary schizophrenia cohort has been developed for researchers affiliated with the Schizophrenia Research Institute and international research groups (Weickert et al., 2010). The additional clinical data obtained for this cohort concerning medications, positive and negative symptoms, substance abuse, and treatment history has assisted in a more discriminating analysis (Fillman et al., 2013). A secondary cohort for comparative studies is in development. These researchers have extensively accessed post-mortem tissue and are applying a variety of techniques (Fillman et al., 2013; Ishiguro et al., 2010; Newell, Zavitsanou, & Huang, 2005; Weickert et al., 2010). A recent review proposed future directions for the use of post-mortem tissue in the study of schizophrenia (McCullumsmith, Hammond, Shan, & Meador-Woodruff, 2014). These include techniques employed at a cellular level, such as kinome array, protein qPCR, capillary electrophoresis, laser capture microdissection, fractionation, and immunohistochemical localization methods. More novel techniques such as Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) and single-cell mass cytometry are feasible although there is a need to develop protocols and validation criteria (MacDonald et al., 2012).
