Symposium
Plenary Hall: Lomond Auditorium
Plenary Hall: Lomond Auditorium
Monday, June 29, 10:50 AM – 12:05 PM
Symposium 21:
Mechanistic Targets from Genes to Brain to Diagnose and Treat Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder
Mechanistic Targets from Genes to Brain to Diagnose and Treat Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder
In this symposium, the latest research on targets to diagnose and treat the mood disorders, bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), will be presented and clinical implications will be discussed. The targets will range from genetic to brain, and treatment strategies will range from pharmacological to psychological and behavioral. The speakers will present the most current findings in the field, including new data from each of their research programs.
Dr. Hilary Blumberg (Yale University, New Haven, USA) will present a current brain model of mood disorders, with a focus on BD and effects of development and aging on the brain differences and the implications for treatment and suicide prevention. She will present recent findings from an integrated genetic-neuroimaging approach of genetic mechanisms implicated. Her presentation will have an emphasis on the importance of energy and activity changes in BD and the contribution of mitochondrial mechanisms. Novel data supporting specific mitochondrial mechanisms in BD will include those from a study in which an integrated approach was used in which individuals with BD were scanned with a recently generated non-invasive optical neuroimaging method, broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (bNIRS), and stem cells and then brain organoids were derived from blood samples from the same individuals. Based on the collective findings, she will discuss implications for biomarkers for disorder detection, and treatments ranging from medications to psychotherapy that empower individuals to improve their brain health and reduce their symptoms and suicide risk by regularizing their sleep and other daily rhythms.
The genetics of major depressive disorder: phenotypic precision, biological mechanism, and clinical translation
Recent large-scale international genetic studies have substantially advanced our understanding of major depressive disorder (MDD), identifying hundreds of associated loci and beginning to resolve its underlying biological architecture. This talk will focus on what phenotypic precision and scale have revealed, drawing on findings from the Identical Depression Phenotyping (IDP) consortium - a meta-analysis of harmonised DSM-based MDD across 489,255 individuals, including participants from the GLAD Study.
Professor Gerome Breen (King's College London) will present evidence that clinically-defined MDD has a distinct genetic architecture from broadly-defined phenotypes, with reduced contamination from ADHD-related liability, improved polygenic score transferability across ancestries, and stronger effector gene resolution. Finally, he will introduce the GLAD mental health goals program, and government funded initiative to advance precision psychiatry for MDD. He closes by discussing clinical implications of genetics, including polygenic risk stratification and pharmacogenomics-guided antidepressant prescribing.
Dr. Anjali Sankar (Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark) will present unique new data, made possible by Denmark national registers, that provide novel markers of first episode depression. Registry based data she will additionally present will include novel structural and functional neuroimaging findings in BD and MDD that are associated with poor prognosis. Finally, she will present international data on neuroimaging predictors of suicidal ideation and behavior in the mood disorders. The speakers will provide integrated discussion, chaired by Dr. Allan Young, of the current clinical implications of the new research and the future of the field.
Dr. Hilary Blumberg (Yale University, New Haven, USA) will present a current brain model of mood disorders, with a focus on BD and effects of development and aging on the brain differences and the implications for treatment and suicide prevention. She will present recent findings from an integrated genetic-neuroimaging approach of genetic mechanisms implicated. Her presentation will have an emphasis on the importance of energy and activity changes in BD and the contribution of mitochondrial mechanisms. Novel data supporting specific mitochondrial mechanisms in BD will include those from a study in which an integrated approach was used in which individuals with BD were scanned with a recently generated non-invasive optical neuroimaging method, broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (bNIRS), and stem cells and then brain organoids were derived from blood samples from the same individuals. Based on the collective findings, she will discuss implications for biomarkers for disorder detection, and treatments ranging from medications to psychotherapy that empower individuals to improve their brain health and reduce their symptoms and suicide risk by regularizing their sleep and other daily rhythms.
The genetics of major depressive disorder: phenotypic precision, biological mechanism, and clinical translation
Recent large-scale international genetic studies have substantially advanced our understanding of major depressive disorder (MDD), identifying hundreds of associated loci and beginning to resolve its underlying biological architecture. This talk will focus on what phenotypic precision and scale have revealed, drawing on findings from the Identical Depression Phenotyping (IDP) consortium - a meta-analysis of harmonised DSM-based MDD across 489,255 individuals, including participants from the GLAD Study.
Professor Gerome Breen (King's College London) will present evidence that clinically-defined MDD has a distinct genetic architecture from broadly-defined phenotypes, with reduced contamination from ADHD-related liability, improved polygenic score transferability across ancestries, and stronger effector gene resolution. Finally, he will introduce the GLAD mental health goals program, and government funded initiative to advance precision psychiatry for MDD. He closes by discussing clinical implications of genetics, including polygenic risk stratification and pharmacogenomics-guided antidepressant prescribing.
Dr. Anjali Sankar (Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark) will present unique new data, made possible by Denmark national registers, that provide novel markers of first episode depression. Registry based data she will additionally present will include novel structural and functional neuroimaging findings in BD and MDD that are associated with poor prognosis. Finally, she will present international data on neuroimaging predictors of suicidal ideation and behavior in the mood disorders. The speakers will provide integrated discussion, chaired by Dr. Allan Young, of the current clinical implications of the new research and the future of the field.