The XVI World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, sponsored by the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics took place in Osaka, Japan, October 2008. Approximately 600 participants gathered to discuss the latest molecular genetic findings relevant to serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, alcohol and drug abuse, autism, and attention-deficit disorder. Recently, the field has advanced considerably and includes new genome-wide association studies with the largest numbers of individuals screened and density of markers to date, as well as newly uncovered genetic phenomena, such as copy number variation that may prove to be relevant for specific brain disorders. The following report represents some of the areas covered during this conference and some of the major new findings presented.