RESEARCH UPDATE 2004

An Overall Glance at McLean Research

More than three acres of floor space is devoted to research on the McLean grounds. The hospital's basic research is located principally in the expanded and renovated Mailman Research Center. The expansion, completed in 1998, added 24,000 square feet of benchtop research space, to the 34,000 square feet of existing space and incorporates laboratories for research in behavioral genetics, cellular neurobiology, developmental biology and neuroplasticity.

Substance abuse research is centered primarily in the Oaks Building, a 26,000-square-foot facility housing the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, laboratories for behavioral science, clinical pharmacology and biochemical research. The Neuroimaging Center, renovated as part of a $10-million expansion completed in 2001, is a 26,500-square-foot building that houses a GE 1.5 Tesla scanner (used for both research and clinical purposes), a Siemens 3.0 Tesla research scanner and the centerpiece technology: a Varian 4.0 Tesla research magnet, one of a small number worldwide capable of developing such a high-field strength for research in human subjects. Research at the Center focuses on technology development and imaging of psychiatric disorders and substance abuse.

Clinical, unit-based research is located mainly contiguous to inpatient units or ambulatory services. It comprises most of the remaining research square footage on campus. A hallmark of McLean research is the interaction and synthesis of clinical and scientific expertise. Many clinicians and their patients participate actively in the more than 350 studies performed at McLean each year.

Isacson, foreground, with team.

Achievement through Collaboration

Research cannot progress without a constant sharing of ideas and information.

The Center for Neuroregeneration Research (CNR), directed by Ole Isacson, Dr Med Sc, is an example of a successful collaboration. Designated by the National Institutes of Health as the Udall Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence, the CNR has project sites at Harvard Medical School, the New England Regional Primate Center and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in addition to McLean. The CNR is also a part of the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair, based at the Longwood Medical area, and it collaborates with a number of researchers throughout the region on pre-clinical and translational research of neuropsychiatric disorders.

McLean researchers also have frequent and ongoing collaborations with colleagues at other institutions in the areas of neuroimaging (Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard University, MGH, MIT, Children's Hospital, Boston Veteran's Administration Medical Center), substance abuse (University of Rochester, Georgetown University, Toronto University, MGH, Research Biochemicals International, Research Triangle Institute), developmental disabilities (National Alliance for Autism Research, Tufts University), schizophrenia (State University of New York, Yale University, Eunice K. Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, Research Biochemicals International), mood disorders (Cambridge Hospital, MGH, University of Washington), aging and neurodegeneration (MGH, MIT, Rhode Island Hospital, University of Cincinnati), bipolar disorder (Baylor, Brigham and Women's Hospital, MGH, University of Washington), molecular neurobiology (University of Tennessee) and the Human Brain Project (University of Minnesota).