Have you ever thought you heard footsteps behind you, only to turn around and see that no one is there? How about phantom buzzing -- when you’re convinced your phone is vibrating, but it’s only your imagination?

Everyone has experienced these types of auditory hallucinations, and most of us will turn around and realize no one is behind us and that our phone didn’t actually buzz, and we’ll go on with our day.

But what if you couldn’t determine that reality? What if you were convinced that someone really was behind you, regardless of what your eyes were telling you? You can imagine how disorienting and debilitating that would be.

This is the reality for schizophrenia patients. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to comprehend reality. There are three main symptoms of schizophrenia: positive, which is characterized by hallucinations and delusions; negative, characterized by lack of emotions and depression-like symptoms; and cognitive, characterized by memory impairment and lack of attention. Schizophrenia affects 3.2 million Americans, and the antipsychotics available only treat positive symptoms of schizophrenia, necessitating the need to develop more comprehensive therapeutics.

As a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Rosalinda Roberts at UAB, Kirsten Schoonover is working to understand the underlying causes of schizophrenia to lay the groundwork for future drug development. Interestingly, Schoonover first became interested in schizophrenia while she was planning to become a lawyer. A book detailing mental manipulation in the courtroom presented the question, “Can you convince someone that something happened, even though it never did?” And the answer is yes, as the mind is not a USB drive and details can get lost in memories. Fascinated by how the mind can be manipulated, Schoonover became interested in schizophrenia.

While there is a genetic component to schizophrenia development, its cause is not fully understood. Visually, there’s no external difference in schizophrenia brains compared to non-schizophrenia brains, forcing researchers to look a little deeper, straight to the brain cells themselves.

Brain cells require energy to function, and copper is required to make that energy. Schoonover came across a link between a schizophrenia risk gene and copper regulation, and became interested in its role in schizophrenia. As it turns out, blood from schizophrenia patients contains 50 percent more copper than non-schizophrenia blood, and moreso, there’s a 33 percent reduction in copper content in schizophrenia patient brains. Current antipsychotics increase copper transport within a cell, but not into a cell. Therefore, the excess copper accumulating in schizophrenia patient blood has nowhere to go, and in turn the brain cannot produce the energy it needs to.

The future of this project will focus on the symptoms of decreased copper transport into cells using animal models, and to determine if there are antipsychotics that can reverse this process.

“I hope that my project helps shed light on a previously unstudied pathology in schizophrenia,” says Schoonover. “So that we may further understand the etiology and pathology of the disease but also so that better treatments can be made. I have a strong desire to … help the individuals that are so greatly affected.”

Being met with excitement in the scientific community, Schoonover’s work brings to hope to the millions of people worldwide who suffer from this debilitating disorder.