biostudies-literatureLiharska LEMichael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's ResearchNIA NIH HHSU.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH)Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (Michael J. Fox Foundation)U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health137-157https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12700818biostudies-literatureUnknown31(1)A goal of psychiatric research is to determine the molecular basis of human brain health and illness. One way to achieve this goal is through studies of gene expression in human brain tissue. Due to the unavailability of brain tissue from living people, most such studies are performed using tissue from postmortem brain donors. An assumption underlying this practice is that gene expression in the postmortem human brain is an accurate representation of gene expression in the living human brain. This assumption - which, until now, had not been adequately tested - was tested by comparing human prefrontal cortex gene expression between 275 living samples and 243 postmortem samples. Expression levels differed significantly for nearly 80% of genes, and a systematic examination of alternative explMolecular psychiatryA study of gene expression in the living human brain.PMC12700818R01 AG06997618232R01AG069976Silk HHuang JBeckmann NDSebra RHashemi AFeng CThompson RCMoya ELevin MAPark YJJohnson JSPolanco JWilkins LVornholt ENadkarni GNCheng EKopell BHKota PCohen VSchadt EESullivan BCharney AWScarpa JLinares LMCrary JFLiharska LEZiafat KRieder MKfalseA study of gene expression in the living human brain.A goal of psychiatric research is to determine the molecular basis of human brain health and illness. One way to achieve this goal is through studies of gene expression in human brain tissue. Due to the unavailability of brain tissue from living people, most such studies are performed using tissue from postmortem brain donors. An assumption underlying this practice is that gene expression in the postmortem human brain is an accurate representation of gene expression in the living human brain. This assumption - which, until now, had not been adequately tested - was tested by comparing human prefrontal cortex gene expression between 275 living samples and 243 postmortem samples. Expression levels differed significantly for nearly 80% of genes, and a systematic examination of alternative expl2026-01-01T00:00:00Z2026 Jan2026-06-06T02:13:43.745Z2026-05-24T03:12:32.983ZS-EPMC127008184084954510.1038/s41380-025-03163-1