16 Columbia University Scientists Receive Narsadï¾’S 2007 Young Investigator Awards

Each Receives $60,000 2-Year Grant for Research on Psychiatric Disorders _______________________

(GREAT NECK, N.Y., May 22, 2007) — Sixteen Columbia University scientists have been selected by NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association to each receive a 2007 Young Investigator Award.

NARSAD is the world’s leading donor-supported organization dedicated to funding research on psychiatric disorders. The Columbia University scientists are among 222 early-career scientists in the United States and 10 other countries who will receive funds from NARSAD to advance their research on mental illnesses.

Each of the scientists will receive $60,000 from NARSAD for the next two years to advance specific research projects:

Andrew J. Gerber, M.D., Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will study brain dysfunction in panic disorder and how these brain changes respond to psychotherapy. Two novel imaging methods will be used--surface analysis, to measure differences in the size of subcortical surface regions, and functional MRI, to measure blood oxygen levels in the brain while the subject is performing a task indicating when regions of the brain are more or less active. These innovative measures of brain structure and function in patients with panic disorder promise to improve our understanding of the disorder. Marianne Gorlyn, Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, seeks to understand the stress response in people who attempt suicide. Dr. Gorlyn will use violent video game play as a novel stress induction paradigm to characterize changes in cognitive, cardiovascular and biochemical functioning that emerge under such provocation. Clarifying the mechanisms that give rise to suicide behavior may serve as a method of identifying depressed patients who may be at higher risk for suicide. David Kimhy, Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, plans to study arousal and paranoia in schizophrenia to learn whether arousal precedes paranoia or is the result of it. Working with paranoid schizophrenia patients and normal controls, Dr. Kimhy and his group have designed methods to closely follow daily functioning. Diane Alix Klein, M.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will test a possible treatment for anorexia nervosa, a disorder for which no single medication has proved effective. Anorexia, biochemically, is characterized by elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Psychotic major depression also involves cortisol abnormalities, and patients with this disorder respond to treatment with the drug mifepristone. Dr. Klein will pilot the use of mifepristone in patients with anorexia. Dana Lizardi, Ph.D., of Columbia University, is working on a method for improving treatment for suicide, a major danger for people with psychiatric illness. While effective interventions exist, the rate of suicidal individuals receiving treatment is very low. Many refuse therapy or quickly drop out. The goal of Dr. Lizardi’s project is to develop an intervention to enhance treatment engagement of suicidal patients. Christina V. Mangurian, M.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, seeks to determine whether behavioral therapy can reduce obesity in a high-risk population of patients taking antipsychotic medication. Patients with major mental illness lose many years of potential life, mainly as the result of cardiovascular disease for which excessive weight is a major risk factor. Antipsychotics used to treat schizophrenia can worsen the effects. In the United States, Hispanics are at greatest risk. Dr. Mangurian and her team will test the efficacy of modified behavioral therapy in reducing metabolic risk for Hispanic patients with major mental disorders. Antonio Mantovani, M.D., Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will test repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment of patients with panic disorder accompanied by major depression. Such patients often fail to respond to existing treatments. The new intervention of rTMS offers hope for these patients because it targets specific regions of the brain believed to be implicated in the illness. Rachel Marsh, Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore disturbances in the brain that may contribute to impairments in depressed adolescents with bulimia nervosa. Brian D. McCabe, Ph.D., of Columbia University, plans to study the synaptic function of schizophrenia-associated genes using the fruit fly as his model. Many genes are believed to contribute to schizophrenia. Dr. McCabe and his colleagues will analyze three Drosophila genes analogous to human genes implicated in glutamate-mediated neurotransmission. Jeffrey Miller, M.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will combine functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to examine the likelihood of remission from major depression after treatment. At present, only 20 to 35 percent of patients with depression treated with antidepressant medications experience remission. Using PET, Dr. Miller’s lab recently found that patients whose symptoms fail to resolve after a year of treatment have lower levels of a molecule that regulates levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Dr. Miller believes his combined imaging approach could lead to more accurate predictions of treatment effectiveness. Jason Scalia, Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, is studying how convulsive therapies for depression affect neuronal organization of the hippocampus, a part of the brain believed to be responsible for certain forms of learning and memory, and in which neurogenesis is known to persist in adulthood. Many pharmacological antidepressant therapies and ECS (electroconvulsive shock therapy) are known to increase the rate at which new neurons are generated in the hippocampus. Dr. Scalia will measure hippocampal neurogenesis in monkeys receiving ECS and a novel convulsive intervention, magnetic seizure therapy (MST). Alexandra L. Sporn, M.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will examine genetic variations in people with major depression to see whether particular variations predict patient response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a new, noninvasive treatment for depression. To date, there are no such predictors for rTMS. She also will try to determine how genetic variations relate to abnormalities in brain structure and functioning in depression. Joanna E. Steinglass, M.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will test a new approach to the treatment of anorexia nervosa that uses D-cycloserine (DCS) in combination with exposure therapy. DCS has been shown to facilitate the amelioration of fear and phobic behavior through enhancement of learning. Dr. Steinglass’s study will test the feasibility, tolerability, and utility of DCS to augment food-exposure therapy in weight-restored patients with anorexia nervosa, and to pave the way for a larger, more definitive trial of DCS and exposure therapy. M. Elizabeth Sublette, M.D., Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will assess the relationship between plasma fatty acid levels and major depressive disorder and suicide risk. Studies suggest that low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids relative to omega-6 fatty acids play a role. One explanation could be that fatty acids influence functioning of the neurotransmitter serotonin, important in depression. (Serotonin is the target of antidepressant medications.) Data from PET scans of the brains of depressed and suicidal subjects reveal low blood fatty acid levels related to low glucose uptake, a measure of brain activity. Ardesheer Talati, Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, will lead a study of panic disorder and social anxiety disorder using functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) imaging of the brain. The aim is to incorporate anatomical and functional MRI study within ongoing genetic research. Kenji Tanaka, M.D., Ph.D., of Columbia University, will explore the neurobiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the role of serotonin. OCD is characterized by a particular set of behaviors, but knowledge of the exact functional abnormality remains unclear because valid animal models are lacking. Dr. Tanaka’s laboratory will develop mouse models, and will also test the hypothesis that increased signaling by a receptor for the neurotransmitter serotonin in the striatum region of the brain leads to compulsive behavior. As exemplified by the research topics of the 16 Columbia University scientists, recipients of NARSAD’s 2007 Young Investigator Award are involved in many novel research projects, ranging from the genetics of mental illness to the assessment of novel treatments to sophisticated epidemiological research. Their work should bring new scientific insight to such conditions as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, autism, ADD/ADHD and other neuropsychiatric disorders affecting tens of millions of adults and children worldwide.

“The young scientists whom NARSAD chooses to support represent the very best in their respective areas of expertise and have been judged by our Scientific Council as having developed innovative and promising research programs,” said Constance E. Lieber, president of NARSAD. “Their work will continue to accelerate progress in the study of all areas of psychiatric disorders.”

“NARSAD’s Young Investigator awards play a very important role, particularly in view of the present federal funding environment, in attracting emerging talent to the field and expanding the research potential for mental health,” added Herbert Pardes, M.D., president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, who is also president of NARSAD’s Scientific Council. Comprised of 94 prominent leaders in mental health research, the Council reviews the project proposals NARSAD receives and makes funding recommendations.

NARSAD created the Young Investigator Award to help the most promising scientists who are now entering research—i.e., post-doctoral fellows, advanced-standing medical residents, and assistant professors—to generate pilot data necessary for larger grants. NARSAD also annually offers a Distinguished Investigator Award, supporting innovative research by full professors or their equivalent with $100,000 one-year grants, and an Independent Investigator Award, providing two-year grants of $100,000 to mid-career scientists, such as associate professors or their equivalent.

NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association raises funds to advance research on the causes, treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders. Founded in 1987 as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, it is the largest donor-supported organization in the world devoted to funding scientific research on neuropsychiatric brain and behavior disorders. Since 1987, NARSAD has awarded $215 million to 2,477 scientists at 415 universities and medical research institutions throughout the United States and in 25 other countries.

For additional information on the work of NARSAD, the research it supports, and various psychiatric disorders, visit the organization’s Web site at www.narsad.org. ### Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. www.cumc.columbia.edu

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