RESEARCH OVERVIEW 2005

Stanley Foundation Bipolar Disorders Research Center

Bruce M. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., Director
Suzann M. Babb, M.S.
William A. Carlezon, Ph.D.
Perry F. Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D.
Andrew L. Stoll, M.D.
Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, Ph.D.

The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Disorders Research Center is a consortium of investigators spanning clinical, laboratory, and brain imaging disciplines working together to discover new and more effective treatments for bipolar and related disorders. The Center has the resources to design, develop, and test novel potential therapeutic agents, and is working on approaches, such as altering the characteristics of nerve cell firing, cell membranes or energy metabolism, that are different from those commonly pursued at pharmaceutical companies or in other university settings. These approaches may offer therapeutic benefits unavailable with current treatments. Currently, seven novel compounds and a physical treatment based on targeted electromagnetic stimulation, all developed by McLean investigators and targeting new approaches to treating psychosis and bipolar disorder, are in trials in laboratory or clinical settings.