Project description
Molecular biomarkers for mental disorders
Mental disorders, such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, are complex and multifactorial, involving both genetic and environmental factors that impact brain function and behaviour. However, the lack of mechanistic insight and molecular biomarkers hampers the design of effective therapies. The ERC-funded Deep-CSF-inPsych project aims to transform the field by conducting deep cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) phenotyping on samples from individuals with first-episode psychotic disorders, depression, and healthy controls. Using cutting-edge omics technologies, the study will focus on disease-relevant metabolites and proteins in CSF. Through a systems biology approach, the research team will explore biological pathways and molecular mechanisms across psychiatric disorders, potentially identifying novel therapeutic targets and advancing treatment strategies for mental health.
Objective
Psychiatry is lacking truly objective markers and the limited molecular understanding of disease mechanism underlying mental disorders inhibits us to design new therapies, for which identification of novel treatment targets are urgently needed. No study has yet conducted deep phenotyping of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is the biological material closest to the brain that is assessable for direct investigations in intra vitam, and no large longitudinal CSF studies on mental disorders currently exists.
I aim at a paradigm change by advancing the current state-of-the-art through novel deep CSF phenotyping on unique CSF samples from individuals with first episode psychotic disorders, depression and healthy controls, to be followed-up longitudinally clinically, and in nationwide registers. Pushing the frontiers of knowledge within psychiatry, I will use novel technologies and for the first-time for these disorders use cutting edge single cell sequencing of cell compartments in the CSF potentially involved in or affected by disease, with a particular focus on T cell alterations. For the first time, longitudinal omics analyses will be conducted with targeted and untargeted metabolomics and proteomics to identify disease relevant metabolites and proteins in the CSF, increasing the understanding of molecular mechanisms of psychiatric symptoms and diagnosis. Systems biology and deep learning approaches will provide crucial insights into biological pathways and the interplay between brain pathophysiological mechanisms in a cross-diagnostic manner, potentially identifying biologically distinct clusters, disentangling the involved molecular mechanisms.
This approach is unprecedented. Identification of novel therapeutic targets, increasing the understanding of mental disorders and insights to molecular mechanisms through deep CSF phenotyping has a ground-breaking potential for psychiatry and neuroscience - paving the way for more effective and mechanism-based treatment.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine psychiatry
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3400 Hillerod
Denmark
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