Dr. Pat Levitt's, from the University of Southern California, research focuses on the development of brain architecture that controls learning, emotional and social behavior in children. His clinical genetics and basic research studies have a long term goal of understanding the biological basis of neurodevelopment and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, and how genes and the environment together influence typical and atypical development. A major strategy of the laboratory is to use mouse genetics to manipulate gene expression that impacts brain wiring and the development of social and emotional behavior. He currently has research and training grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Simons Foundation, and has held numerous grants from NIH, National Science Foundation, National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders, Joseph and Esther Klingenstein Foundation, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, and other foundations.