SureGene uses proprietary LocusLockTM technology to locate and evaluate in detail chromosomal regions that make relatively large contributions to psychological variation in the human population. These chromosomal segments contain genes that affect susceptibility to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

While it has long been known that mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have a strong genetic component, traditional genetic methods have failed to identify significant genetic risk factors for these disorders. Why? Simply put, traditional methods do not work well for diseases involving two or more genes, especially when those diseases have many distinct clinical features. For example, experts now recognize that schizophrenia is not really a single homogeneous disease. Rather, it includes a variety of clinical features -- ranging from hallucinations and paranoia to extreme social withdrawal -- that vary in intensity from patient to patient.

The LocusLockTM platform is a multi-tiered genetics and bioinformatics approach that relies in part on specific clinical features of diseases rather than depending on imperfect clinical diagnoses. Specific genes are expected to influence different clinical aspects of mental health regardless of the final diagnoses. LocusLockTM focuses on the genes with the largest effects in the population as a whole, even though other genes may contribute to varying extents in certain families. Those genes with the largest contributions to risk are also those of highest clinical relevance and, consequently, those with greatest economic impact because of their utility for diagnosis and targeted treatment.