Brain Awareness Week Puts Focus on Brain Science: Columbia Psychiatry
As psychiatry comes into its own as a fully evidenced based medical discipline, there are no shortage of researchers at Columbia Psychiatry embarking on science explorations of arguably the most complicated organ in the body and its role in psychiatric disorders. For Brain Awareness Week (March 16-20), when events featuring brain science take place around the country, the department offers a look at some of its latest research
A team of experts bridging three research divisions led the “Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response for Clinical Care” or EMBARC study. EMBARC is ambitious; it’s seeking to identify the best treatment for depression based on a person’s unique biology. The study uses MRI and EEG testing as well as psychological and genetic testing to determine a patient’s response to medication.
“This isn’t the first study to use some of these technologies to look at physiologic differences in people with depression, but it is the first to incorporate a whole battery of them in a single randomized research study of this size,” said Patrick McGrath, MD, Principal Investigator.
Almost 15 years after their fundamental research study detailing dopamine’s role in schizophrenia, Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD, Mark Slifstein, PhD, and colleagues published data that showed widespread dopamine deficits in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. The findings, if replicated, could “help guide treatment developments,” said Dr Abi-Dargham.
Identifying new treatment targets for psychiatric disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that affects children and adolescents is a challenging and no less rewarding endeavor for Columbia Psychiatry researchers, who continue to work to undercut these often debilitating illnesses.
Recent research, led by experts in animal models of psychiatric disorders (Rene Hen, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Neuroscience Division) and human subjects research (Dr. Helen Blair Simpson) identified what they think may be a mechanism underlying the development of compulsive behaviors. Using a new technology in a mouse model, the researchers found that repeated stimulation of specific circuits linking the brain’s cortex and striatum produces progressive repetitive behavior. By targeting this region, it may be possible to stop abnormal circuit changes before they become pathological behaviors in people at risk for OCD.
What might the future hold for brain science? Researchers are actively looking at new medications and technologies that may advance existing treatments. Substances like ketamine, while it shows promise as a treatment for depression, are being evaluated further for dosing and implementation outside the research setting. Other research studies are looking at the drug’s effects on brain mechanisms implicated in substance abuse and schizophrenia.
According to Lawrence Kegeles, MD, PhD – a research scientist with expertise in schizophrenia— animal studies have shown that ketamine triggers “sprouting of new spines on the neurons, strengthening of synapses in certain parts of the brain in rodents. It seems to be related to the benefits that you get [from ketamine].” The question then becomes, said Dr. Kegeles: “How do we develop a drug that has the downstream benefits of ketamine without the detrimental early effects. That would open up the benefits to patients with schizophrenia, who can’t take ketamine because it can aggravate their symptoms.”
Scientists at the forefront of suicide research are using technology, specifically mobile devices, to monitor daily stress and mood and provide support for patients at risk for suicide. The devices, said suicide researcher John Mann, MD, gives patients an easy way to ask for help at the time they need it most.