Grant Type: Discovery Research

Determining whether a novel type of brain stimulation and precision mapping can be used to identify the underlying mechanisms of mood switching in bipolar disorder.

Identifying the brain circuitry responsible for mood instability by mapping the brains of individuals with bipolar disorder and manipulating these circuits to establish their causal role in mood regulation.

Mapping psychiatric symptom characteristics of bipolar disorder to brain circuits using brain lesions, brain stimulation, and neuroimaging.

Chronically recording deep brain activity in people with bipolar disorder to detect and characterize changes in network dynamics that coincide with changes in mood state.

Identifying key immune biomarkers and uncovering possibilities for new therapies by using newly developed organ-chip technology and modeling how immune changes affect living human brain cells.

Changes along the cerebellar thalamic cortical circuit may drive dysregulation of mood and sleep in bipolar disorder. Understanding this dysregulation using genetic risk models may point to potential therapeutic opportunities.

Exploring the link between reward-related behavior and disruption of circadian-regulated processes like sleep – and how the interplay may exacerbate manic symptoms. The work will complement and inform other ongoing work within bipolar-related sleep dysfunction.

Investigating the function of voltage-gated calcium channels in the causes and development of bipolar disorder and assessing their potential as drug targets using a variety of innovative molecular approaches.