The PLOT-BD project aims to improve the long-term treatment of bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder affects young people in their teens or early 20s and follows a lifelong recurrent course. In many, but not all patients the episodes of mania and depression can be prevented by suitable medication treatment. To date long term treatments are commonly chosen by trial-and-error, often taking months or even years. However, our earlier work suggests that clinical and molecular genetic markers can guide the treatment selection on an individual basis. To this end, the collaborating partners will analyze data from existing as well as newly collected clinical observations of patients treated with lithium. We will combine patients’ clinical data with three molecular genetic modalities: genetic polymorphisms, epigenetic modifications, and studies of neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, to derive a set of variables associated with positive treatment outcome. Personalized treatment selection will shorten time to remission and effective mood stabilization, ultimately reducing the impact of the illness on lives of patients and their families.