UTHealth Houston receives $2.5 million to transform knowledge and treatment of bipolar disorder | | |
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Rodrigo Machado-Vieira, MD, PhD, MSc | |
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Written by: Halle Jones
A $2.5 million grant for the transformation of knowledge and treatment of bipolar disorder has been awarded to researchers at UTHealth Houston by Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD²).
Researchers leading the project are Jair Soares, MD, PhD, professor and chair and the Pat R. Rutherford, Jr. Chair in Psychiatry in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston; and Rodrigo Machado-Vieira, MD, PhD, MSc, professor of psychiatry and director of the Bipolar Disorder Program in the department.
“This is a landmark initiative that will bring together several prestigious institutions and some of the leading scientists working in this area,” said Soares, who is also the director of the Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders. “We are excited to be part of this important effort and hopeful that the development of key knowledge will help us move towards the goal of precision psychiatry.”
Affecting nearly 40 million people worldwide, bipolar disorder is a serious mental health condition with dramatic and often unpredictable shifts in mood, energy, activity, and cognition. The BD² Integrated Network brings together two key models of advancing medicine. The first is the systematic collection of data from a defined set of participants over time, known as a longitudinal cohort study.
The second is the development of a system to repeatedly improve care for patients, known as a learning health network. The BD² Integrated Network aims to bring scale, time, and depth to phenotyping a cohort of people living with bipolar disorder.
“The goal is to address how symptoms are presented in relation to biomarkers that could be helpful to define best treatments,” Machado-Vieira said. “So, if a patient is presenting some symptoms with some biological findings, we aim that those findings will help to identify what would be the best treatment for that patient in a naturalistic setting.”
Researchers and clinicians see this data as the key to understanding patient subtypes, trajectories, and developing targeted interventions that will transform patient experience. This initial focus on bipolar I disorder allows the initiative to identify relevant patterns faster because diagnostic validity is stronger leading to less variation in the participants.
“Based on the profile of the individuals identified, clinicians could partner with researchers to identify and test alternative treatment approaches that are aligned with their biological profile,” Machado-Vieira said. “While these sub-studies are several years away, our infrastructure and network of providers make this vision uniquely possible and rapidly scalable.”
UTHealth Houston is one of the six regional centers in this initiative. Others are Brigham and Women’s Hospital-McLean Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Michigan, Mayo Clinic, and University of California Los Angeles. Researchers at UTHealth Houston will enroll up to 200 patients with bipolar disorder, who will be characterized through the collection of clinical, cognitive, imaging, and physiological markers over several years.
About UTHealth Houston
Established in 1972 by The University of Texas System Board of Regents, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) is Houston’s Health University and Texas’ resource for health care education, innovation, scientific discovery and excellence in patient care. The most comprehensive academic health center in the UT System and the U.S. Gulf Coast region, UTHealth Houston is home to Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing, John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School, D. Bradley McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, and schools of biomedical sciences, dentistry, and public health. UTHealth Houston includes the Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center and Harris County Psychiatric Center, as well as clinical practices UT Physicians, UT Dentists, and UT Health Services. The university’s primary teaching hospitals are Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, and Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital. For more information, visit www.uth.edu.
About BD²
Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder is the first organization focused on funding and advancing research and care for bipolar disorder on a global scale. Our collaborative, open-science approach is designed to transform and shorten the time it takes for scientific breakthroughs to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the tens of millions of people with bipolar disorder. For more information, please visit bipolardiscoveries.org.
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Pagan gets grant from Autism Speaks | |
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Antonio Pagán, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, received a grant from Autism Speaks to support Latino youth with autism in Houston.
Pagán’s research program, Launching! to Adulthood, helps neurodiverse young adults reach their full potential, while also supporting their parents. The Launching! to Adulthood program was created for young adults, 18-25 years old, with autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and their parents. The 10-week therapy program is based on evidence-based therapies that include cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and motivational interviewing.
The program was developed in 2015 by Katherine Loveland, PhD, professor in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. As an intern, Pagán became interested in the program and wanted to translate the program into Spanish to serve the Latino population. He also modified the program to make it more culturally appropriate.
This grant will allow Pagán to build on his preliminary research, which looked at focus groups as these young people transitioned to adulthood. This fellowship funds a pilot test of this community-developed telehealth program among a group of 30 Latino young adults with autism and their families, aiming for broader outreach in the region.
Treating those in the Latino community with autism is one of Pagán’s passions in his work. He’s very excited to receive funds to further his research.
“The fact that I have that opportunity to help those in my community is really the focus,” Pagán said. “This is very close to my heart because I am Latino and grew up in a Latino culture. There is a lot of personal investment in the work that I’m doing. The fact that I’m able to bridge my personal background and integrate that into helping those in my community has been a huge blessing.”
Autism Speaks awards two-year fellowships to postdoctoral students whose research shows promise in the autism field and is providing an innovative direction for the field. The fellowship also provides funding for research and further training.
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Study looks to control trauma triggers | |
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Written by: Darla Brown
Just as a song can remind us of the junior high dance or prom, sounds also have the ability to return traumatic memories.
Pinpointing the location of these traumatic memories is the work behind a clinical trial, “Neuromodulation of the fear extinction circuit using temporally and anatomically specific TMS in humans,” led by Mohammed Milad, PhD, professor in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
The five-year project is now in its third year and recruiting patients in the Houston area. Milad joined the McGovern Medical School faculty in August from New York University, where the clinical trial began.
“The brain forms associations with significant emotions,” he explained. “You can be listening to your favorite artist and then get in a car accident.
“Hearing the song a year later, the memory will never go away, but the visceral reaction will go away for 85 percent of us. The rest will still have that trigger of fear.”
The research aims to accelerate the reduction of the trigger artificially through the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation – a noninvasive approach to Pavlovian conditioning.
The study is looking to recruit 250 healthy volunteers, from ages 18 to 70. Volunteers will first have their brain imaged to produce individualized targeting of the TMS, which is used clinically to treat depression.
“If we can pair TMS to an event or stimuli, it will be much more effective,” he said. “We are looking at enhancing our capacity to regulate fear.”
For more information on the clinical trial, please see https://www.uth.edu/ctrc/ongoing-clinical-trials.
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Spotlight:
Pillai named to NIH review committee
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Anilkumar Pillai, PhD, professor in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has been selected as a member of the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Neuroimmunology, Rhythms, and Sleep Study Section (BNRS) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review.
In a letter announcing his acceptance, the NIH recognized Pillai for his scientific accomplishments and contributions to the discipline, evidenced by significant research, publications, achievements, and honors.
Center for Scientific Review study sections review applications submitted to NIH, make recommendations on the applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields of science.
During this four-year term, Pillai will help assure the quality of NIH’s peer review process.
"I am very pleased to be a part of this important activity," Pillai said. "It's a great honor to be invited to join a group of outstanding researchers that helps NIH in its decisions to fund research studies."
Pillai is a Louis A. Faillace, MD, Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
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Webber gives lecture at national conference | |
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Heather Webber, PhD, assistant professor in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, recently gave an in-person lecture on cocaine use disorder research at the annual Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR) in the “Faces of the Future” session in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Webber, whose research focuses on a potential treatment to assist people with cocaine use disorder, said there are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications to treat cocaine use, unlike other substances such as opioids and alcohol. This makes treatment difficult.
Webber has been exploring using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat cocaine use disorder in the absence of medication. TMS is a localized, noninvasive outpatient procedure in which magnetic energy is directed toward specific parts of the brain. It has been approved by the FDA for treating depression and is now being studied for other types of diagnoses.
Webber’s pilot study included five patients with cocaine use disorder, who completed an electroencephalogram, a medical test used to measure the electrical activity of the brain, before and after receiving TMS treatment.
Webber said one of the issues people with cocaine use disorder have is impaired reward processing. Individuals with cocaine use disorder may not be able to get pleasure from daily activities, while also struggling to properly evaluate the negative consequences of drug use.
The goal was to see if TMS would alter brain activity in response to receiving rewards and punishments. After the treatment, the results revealed increased brain activity in response to punishments, which could help individuals with cocaine use disorder better evaluate the negative consequences of drug use.
The results from Webber’s pilot study have led to more funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, for a larger trial that will include 75 patients. There will be some modifications, as the group will explore different parts of the brain to treat and evaluate other reward-processing measures.
Webber says cocaine use is one of the hardest addictions to treat, due to the powerful effects it has on the brain. She was honored to be a part of the conference and to share her research with others.
“I was really surprised and excited when I received the invite,” Webber said. “I’ve been going to SPR since I started graduate school. It feels good to know there’s people out there who are interested and appreciate your work.”
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The following clinical trials are in operation, following all necessary safety guidelines. If you're interested, contact the appropriate study.
Psilocybin for Treatment-resistant Depression Study
This study aims to examine the safety and efficacy of a single-dose of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. Patients will be assigned into a treatment or a placebo group.
Contact: 713-486-2697
Stem Cells for Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression
This study aims to examine the safety and efficacy of allogenic mesenchymal stem cells as an adjunctive treatment for treatment-resistant bipolar depression. Patients will be assigned into a treatment or a placebo group.
Contact: 713-486-2627
VNS RECOVER Study
Researchers in the UTHealth Houston Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders are studying the VNS therapy LivaNova device to treat depression as part of the RECOVER trial.
Contact: 713-486-2627
To see all open studies, visit our website.
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Powerhouses on the Edge: Unveiling the Connection between Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Bipolar Disorder - Neuroscience - October 2023
Rafaela C. Cordeiro, Giselli Scaini
Blood epigenome-wide association studies of suicide attempt in adults with bipolar disorder - PubMed - July 2023
Salahudeen Mirza, Camila N de Carvalho Lima, Alexandra Del Favero-Campbell, Alexandre Rubinstein, Natasha Topolski, Brenda Cabrera-Mendoza, Emese H C Kovács, Hilary P Blumberg, Jenny Gringer Richards, Aislinn J Williams, John A Wemmie, Vincent A Magnotta, Jess G Fiedorowicz, Marie E Gaine, Consuelo Walss-Bass, Joao Quevedo, Jair C Soares, Gabriel R Fries
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Jennifer Bahrman, PhD, talked with Fox 26 News about why some people like to be scared during Halloween.
Taiwo Babatope, MD, MPH, spoke to KPRC-TV Channel 2 about how parents can talk to their children about the current events in the Middle East.
Cesar A. Soutullo, MD, PhD, appeared on the “Contigo en la Comunidad” show on Univision Houston Channel 45 to discuss how people can take care of their mental health.
Scott Lane, PhD, spoke to FOX 26 News about research he led showing an increase in teen suicidality rates in the months of October and April.
Michael Weaver, MD, was interviewed by United Press International about a study linking cannabis use disorder and heart disease.
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Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
713-486-2500
Email
Website
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