NMDAR hypofunction at the crossroads of psychosis and cognition: insights from schizophrenia and anti-NMDAR encephalitis

This workshop brings together experts from molecular psychiatry, immunology, and cognitive neuroscience to explore the role of NMDARs in both pathophysiology and cognition through the lens of schizophrenia and anti-NMDAR encephalitis.The first part of the workshop will focus on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that implicate NMDAR hypofunction in schizophrenia, including evidence from genetic, pharmacological, and post-mortem studies. The discussion will then pivot to anti-NMDAR encephalitis, highlighting its clinical features, immunological basis, and the insights it offers into receptor-level disruptions.

Despite vastly different etiologies, both disorders manifest overlapping symptoms, such as psychosis and severe cognitive impairments, raising compelling questions about shared circuit-level vulnerabilities. Building on this comparison, the final segment of the workshop will examine the role of NMDARs in working memory—a fundamental cognitive function that is similarly disrupted in both conditions.