Studies On The Expression Of Muscarinic Receptors: Implications For The Pathology Of Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$498,791.00
Summary
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population. This project will help define changes in the molecules in the brain of subjects with schizophrenia which are likely to be involved in two symptoms of the disorder, the psychoses and cognitive deficits. Understanding the cause of the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia is a high priority because they are the most disabilitating symptom of the disorder and do not respond to current drug treatments.
Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs) - A Potential New Treatment For Women Of Child-bearing Age With Psychotic Symptoms Of Schizophrenia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$210,480.00
Summary
Schizophrenia is a devastating illness urgently requiring a new treatment approach. We have discovered that estrogen is an effective treatment for women with schizophrenia and are currently trialling a safer Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) known as brain estrogen� in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia. Regulatory permission is now available to trial the SERM in younger women, and we seek to extend our current SERM study into child bearing age women with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is classified among the world’s top ten enduring disabilities. Hearing voices are a profound and distressing symptom, which have proven difficult to successfully treat. We plan to use the latest brain imaging techniques and genetic testing to develop the most comprehensive understanding of hearing for voices to date. These data are vital to the development of novel tailored treatment for patients who hear voices.
Antipsychotic Medication In First-episode Psychosis: An RCT To Assess The Risk-benefit Ratio
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,141,117.00
Summary
There has been an increasing emphasis on intervening early in psychotic disorders. A fundamental principle in early intervention is “to do no harm” and benefits must outweigh the risks of treatment. While antipsychotic medication is very effective and evidence-based form of treatment for positive symptoms in most first episode psychosis (FEP) patients it has risks. This study has the potential to determine whether antipsychotic medication should be the initial treatment option for FEP.
Predictors Of Outcome And Intervention In The ‘Ultra-High Risk’ For Psychosis Population
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$401,561.00
Summary
This area of research is concerned with improving our ability to identify young help-seeking patients who are most at risk of developing psychotic disorders and provide intervention to delay or prevent the onset of psychosis. A number of studies are planned, including researching disturbances in sense of self, neurocognitive factors, history of trauma and reaction to stress as predictive of future onset of psychosis, as well as a study of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) as an intervention for the ....This area of research is concerned with improving our ability to identify young help-seeking patients who are most at risk of developing psychotic disorders and provide intervention to delay or prevent the onset of psychosis. A number of studies are planned, including researching disturbances in sense of self, neurocognitive factors, history of trauma and reaction to stress as predictive of future onset of psychosis, as well as a study of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) as an intervention for these high risk young people.Read moreRead less
Thalamocortical Neural Circuits In Higher Order Cognitive And Sensory Processing
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,860.00
Summary
Schizophrenia, depression and dementia are devastating disorders with problems in thinking and sensory perception, but the neural circuits causing these symptoms are not known. I will use new optical and genetic tools in mice to identify the cortical and subcortical circuits required for complex touchscreen tasks, the same tasks to assess patients. Identification of neural circuits that underlie clinical symptoms will increase our understanding of these disorders and improve treatments.
The Efficacy Of N-acetyl Cysteine As An Adjunctive Treatment For First Episode Psychosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,143,069.00
Summary
First episode psychosis may foreshadow devastating, chronic illness. Psychosis follows a staged, progressive pathway. There is evidence to suggest illness progression can be diminished and perhaps even averted if appropriate treatments are given at the early stages of illness. This project will test if N-acetycysteine (NAC) administered to young people who have experienced a first episode of psychosis can help prevent this early psychotic experience from developing into a chronic disorder.
Improving Physical Health Outcomes For Young People With Psychotic Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$189,384.00
Summary
Enduring psychotic disorders are associated with a reduced life expectancy by 25 years, which is mainly due to cardiovascular disease. This project will produce a training package that will improve clinician’s skills and knowledge of screening and treatment for physical health risk factors in young people with psychosis. This project will result in the development of an intervention for reducing the prevalence of these cardiovascular risk factors known to contribute to this early mortality.
Identifying genes causing thermal evolution of ectotherm body size. Cold-blooded animals increase in body size as they are found in populations at greater distances from the equator. These patterns are due to populations adapting to temperature. The aim of this project is to identify the genes involved in this adaptation process. We will do this by taking advantage of a well-studied body size cline in the vinegar fly on the east coast of Australia, and by building on an international collaborati ....Identifying genes causing thermal evolution of ectotherm body size. Cold-blooded animals increase in body size as they are found in populations at greater distances from the equator. These patterns are due to populations adapting to temperature. The aim of this project is to identify the genes involved in this adaptation process. We will do this by taking advantage of a well-studied body size cline in the vinegar fly on the east coast of Australia, and by building on an international collaboration between a leading UK and two Australian research groups. In doing so we will provide an explanation at the molecular level for one of the great unresolved phenomena in biology: why do cold-blooded animals get bigger in the cold? The research also leads to the potential to manipulate body size in animals.Read moreRead less
Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations. Most human traits have a genetic component and display substantial diversity within and among populations. How natural selection changes and maintains genetic variation in human traits is a long-standing question in evolution that the proposed project aims to answer. Using innovative statistical methods and largest genomic “big” datasets ever across populations of different ancestral backgrounds, this project expects to gen ....Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations. Most human traits have a genetic component and display substantial diversity within and among populations. How natural selection changes and maintains genetic variation in human traits is a long-standing question in evolution that the proposed project aims to answer. Using innovative statistical methods and largest genomic “big” datasets ever across populations of different ancestral backgrounds, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the roles of natural selection in shaping the genetic variation in traits and identify key factors that drive the differentiation of human populations. These outcomes will significantly improve our understanding on the evolution of human traits and adaptation of populations to changing environments.Read moreRead less