Category: Research

Wash U to test OCD drug for potential COVID-19 treatment

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine are recruiting COVID-19 patients for a clinical trial that will examine whether an existing anti-depressant can be an effective treatment for COVID-19.

How team sports change a child’s brain (Links to an external site)

Adult depression has long been associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus, a brain region that plays an important role in memory and response to stress. Now, new research from Washington University in St. Louis has linked participation in team sports to larger hippocampal volumes in children and less depression in boys ages 9 to 11.

The view from the chair (Links to an external site)

Seven years ago, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton (left) asked Andrew C. Taylor, executive chairman of Enterprise Holdings and a life trustee of the university, to chair the public phase of Leading Together.

Taylor Institute develops mice available from JAX Labs. (Links to an external site)

Also Known As: δ* KI δ* KI is a CRISPR/cas9-made knock-in allele with a T269Y mutation in Gabrd exon 8 that renders δ-containing receptor populations insensitive to picrotoxin (PTX). These mice allow chemogenetic isolation of δ-containing GABAA receptors, and may be useful for neurological studies of receptor, ion channel and synapse biology, neurotransmitters, and glutamate/GABA transmission.

Taylors Provide $10 Million to Accelerate Psychiatric Drug Development (Links to an external site)

I​n 2012, Andrew and Barbara Taylor and the Crawford Taylor Foundation pledged $20 million to the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University’s School of Medicine to establish a research institute dedicated to advancing new treatments for mental illnesses. Just six years later, investigators in the department’s Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research are on […]

New approach to developing antidepressants (Links to an external site)

Pictured is a neuron, colored with dye, from the brain's hippocampus. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are testing how neurosteroid drugs bind to GABA receptors on such neurons, with the goal of developing better antidepressants. One such neurosteroid drug, brexanolone, is being considered for FDA approval as a treatment for postpartum depression.

In the new research, Steve Mennerick, Institute scientific director, and his colleagues focused on GABA receptors located on neurons in the brain’s hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory. Using CRISPR, they mutated the delta-type GABA receptors to isolate and test their role in brain functioning.

Laughing gas studied as depression treatment (Links to an external site)

Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, has shown early promise as a potential treatment for severe depression in patients whose symptoms don’t respond to standard therapies. The pilot study was believed to be the first research in which patients with depression were given laughing gas.