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Identification of risk factor for adolescent suicide
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator David Brent, M.D. helps establish mood disorders, substance abuse, impulsive aggression, parental suicidal behavior, and access to guns as significant risk factors. -
PET and MRI functional imaging studies
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Helen Mayberg, M.D. begins pioneering functional imaging studies in neuropsychiatric disorders and develops an influential model of depression. -
FDA approval of the 2nd-generation antipsychotic drug clozapine for treatment-resistant schizophrenia
Studies by NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Herbert Meltzer, M.D. and others lead to this development. -
Identification of risk factors for depression
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Jane Costello, Ph.D. and colleagues initiate the Great Smoky Mountain Study which helps reveal which young people tend to get mental illness, how useful treatments are and promising directions for future research and treatment. -
Diagnostic screen for prevention of teen suicide
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator David Shaffer, M.D. confirms that most teen suicides occur in the context of psychiatric illness and creates the Columbia Teen Screen, now used nationwide. -
Identification of shared susceptibility genes in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Elliot Gershon, M.D. and others report on and assess evidence of shared susceptibility genes. -
Medication plus therapy more effective treatment for children with ADHD
A large multicenter clinical trial called MTA ( Multimodal Treatment for ADHD) directed by NARSAD Distinguished Investigator John March, M.D., M.P.H. and others shows that those who receive drugs and therapy usually fare best. -
Nobel Prize for discoveries on signaling in the nervous system and providing a molecular window on the brain
NARSAD Distinguished Investigators Eric Kandel, M.D. and Paul Greengard, Ph.D. are awarded the Nobel Prize (along with Arvid Carlsson) for this work that eventually impacts treatments for Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, and depression and holds promise for the improvement of memory in dementia. -
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for treatment of depression
NARSAD Independent Investigator Mark George, M.D. reports on development of this new kind of non-invasive brain stimulation as an alternative to electroconvulsive therapy. -
Trauma Center for 9-11 Survivors
NARSAD Young Investigator Yuval Neria, Ph.D. sets up a trauma center to study the effects of the WTC attacks. -
Proof that clozapine reduces the risk for suicide
A study directed by NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Herb Meltzerm, M.D. provides definitive proof leading to the first approval by the FDA of any drug for this purpose and for any specific component of a psychiatric disorder, rather than a disorder as a whole, e.g. schizophrenia. -
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in treatment of depression
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Helen Mayberg, M.D. uses this technology to target ‘area 25,’ a place in the brain she earlier found to be an important locus of depression pathology. -
Identification of suicide risk to teens with antidepressants
In multicenter Treatment of Adolescent Depression Study (TADS) NARSAD Distinguished Investigator John March, M.D., M.P.H. shows risk can be greatly reduced if antidepressant is combined with cognitive behavioral therapy. -
Invention of optogenetics to better understand and treat depression
NARSAD Young Investigator Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D. invents this experimental method that involves the use of light to make neurons fire, one at a time. Opens new vistas on mechanisms behind depression and other psychiatric illnesses. -
Daniel Weinberger, M.D. and colleagues explain how...
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Daniel Weinberger, M.D. and colleagues explain how a variant form of the neuregulin-1 gene contributes to dysfunction in schizophrenia. -
Progress on way forward for diagnostics on mental illness
NARSAD Independent Investigator Grigori Enikolopov, Ph.D. and colleagues develop the first biomarker enabling neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs) to be tracked, non-invasively, in the brains of living human subjects; possible basis of powerful diagnostics. -
FDA approval of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) as non-invasive alternative to electroconvulsive therapy
NARSAD Independent Investigator Mark George, M.D. is granted FDA approval for use in certain patients with severe, treatment-resistant depression. -
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Arturas Petronis, M.D., Ph.D. publishes pioneering study analyzing...
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Arturas Petronis, M.D., Ph.D. publishes pioneering study analyzing epigenetic changes across the human genome in the context of psychiatric illness (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder). -
Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., Judith Rapoport, M.D. and colleagues identify...
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Judith Rapoport , M.D. and colleagues identify multiple, individually rare gene mutations in people with schizophrenia. -
Evidence that thinning of brain’s right hemisphere is linked to depression risk
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Myrna Weissman, Ph.D. and colleagues discover this in one of the largest-ever imaging studies of depression. -
Mary-Claire King, Ph.D. Judith Rapoport, M.D. and colleagues discover that...
NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Judith Rapoport, M.D. and colleagues discover that copy-number variations -- extra copies of a gene-rich region on chromosome 16 -- increase risk for schizophrenia by at least eightfold. Deletion of the same region is known to confer high risk of autism.
