Project description
A novel treatment for schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder associated with an impaired capacity to interpret reality. Accumulating evidence indicates that patients present with increased dopamine synthesis even before disease onset. Scientists of the EU-funded EDiPSPrevent project have developed a mouse model of schizophrenia which recapitulates the dopaminergic dysfunction seen in patients. The aim of the project is to study neurotransmission in these animals and test the effect of a drug that normalises the increase in dopamine. Results will provide fundamental insight into disease pathophysiology and open new possibilities for treatment of individuals at risk.
Objective
Treatments for schizophrenia are inadequate, and intervening prior to disease onset is a novel approach to improve patient outcomes. Clinical studies using positron emission tomography (PET) have revealed that patients with chronic schizophrenia consistently show an increase in dopamine synthesis capacity in the striatum. This dysfunction is also evident in people at-risk of developing schizophrenia, specifically in those who are later diagnosed with this disorder. Normalizing this increase in pre-synaptic dopamine therefore reflects an extremely promising target for new treatments of schizophrenia. I developed a novel animal model of schizophrenia – Enhanced Dopamine in Prodromal Schizophrenia (EDiPS) – which replicates the pre-synaptic dopaminergic dysfunction seen so robustly in patients. In this project, I propose to firstly use state-of-art preclinical PET to examine pre-synaptic dopamine in EDiPS animals. This will confirm its translatability to the findings in the clinical population. Through a secondment, I will assess other key aspects of dopamine neurotransmission in these animals, focussing on the source of dopaminergic innervation to the striatum – the midbrain. As a complementary objective, I will assess any difference between male and female EDiPS animals for each of these outcomes. This is especially relevant to schizophrenia, which is a sexually dimorphic disorder. The second objective of this fellowship is to trial a novel approach to normalise the increase in pre-synaptic dopamine in EDiPS animals, through a Trace Amino Acid Receptor 1 (TAAR1) agonist. I will trial the TAAR1 agonist both acutely in adult EDiPS animals, and when given chronically during development, to simulate an intervention in the at-risk population. This will be the first study to examine the effects of a TAAR1 agonist in the developing brain. The scientific outcomes of this fellowship will have real-world implications for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia.
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 cognitive neuroscience
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine psychiatry schizophrenia
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry amines
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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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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
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.
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
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.
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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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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.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.