Treatment-Resistant Depression: Glutamate, Stress-Hormones and their Role in the Regeneration of Neurons

Speakers

Organizers

Robert Martone

Covance Biomarker Center of Excellence

Robert Martone is Neuroscience Therapeutic Area Lead for the Covance Biomarker Center of Excellence. He has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry leading neuroscience drug discovery and technology teams through all phases of discovery from target identification through clinical trials with expertise in both small molecule and protein therapeutics. He also has several years of academic research experience in molecular neurobiology, with a focus on the molecular genetics of familial neuropathies, and CNS tumor biomarker development.

Harald Murck, MD, PhD

Covance Neuroscience Medical and Scientific Services

Dr. Harald Murck studied Physics and Medicine and Philipps-University of Marburg and the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany. He conducted his scientific and clinical training in Psychiatry at the Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry, Munich; Germany. He has over 12 years of large and small pharma experience in clinical research, medical affairs and translational medicine (Lichtwer Pharma, Amarin, Novartis, BMS) and is at present Senior Medical Director at Covance, Princeton and Associate Professor at Philipps-University Marburg. He is author or co-author of more than 70 peer reviewed articles, several of them related to glutamatergic mechanisms of depression.

Jennifer Henry, PhD

The New York Academy of Sciences

Speakers

Ronald S. Duman, PhD

Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Duman is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Director of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities, and is the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. Studies from Dr. Duman’s laboratory have contributed to the characterization of the molecular and cellular actions of antidepressants and stress, providing the basis for a neurotrophic hypothesis of depression. Recent studies also demonstrate that the rapid antidepressant actions of NMDA receptor antagonists are dependent on synaptogenesis and new protein synthesis. These findings represent major advances in our understanding of the effects of antidepressants and provide a framework for the development of novel therapeutic agents. Dr. Duman has received several prestigious awards for his work, including the Anna-Monika Prize, the Nola Maddox Falcone Prize, the Janssen Prize for Research in Psychopharmacology, a NIMH MERIT Award, a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award, and the College of International Neuropsychopharmacology Basic Research Award. He is author of over 300 original articles, reviews and chapters and has given over 200 invited lectures.

Guosong Liu, MD, PhD

Tsinghua University, China

Dr. Liu is a Professor of Neuroscience at Tsinghua University. He received his PhD in Physiological science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1990. He completed post-doctoral scientific training at Stanford University. From there he went onto a faculty position at Picower institute of learning and memory, department of brain and cognitive science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he remained from 1996–2005. In 2005, Dr. Liu founded a biotechnology company ("Magceutics, Inc."), which is developing novel anti-brain-aging therapy. In 2006, Liu moved to Tsinghua University, where he continues to teach and maintain a vigorous scientific laboratory. Dr. Liu's research focuses primarily on deciphering organization principle that regulate synapse density in brain under physiological and pathological conditions. These understandings result in novel strategies for designing molecular targets for treating neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer and Parkinson's diseases and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Jorge Quiroz, MD

Roche

Dr. Jorge Quiroz is Head of Psychiatry in Neuroscience Translational Medicine at Hoffmann-La Roche. After receiving his Medical Degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and board certification in Psychiatry, Dr. Quiroz completed his post-graduate training at the Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Quiroz's research efforts at the NIMH in translational neuroscience focused on clinical research and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in populations with severe mood disorders resistant to conventional pharmacological treatments. His achievements while at the NIMH included the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression), the NCDEU New Investigator Award (New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit), the Fellows Award for Research Excellence, and the Clinical Center Director's Award for Quality of Work and Diversity. Dr. Quiroz then joined Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development where he successfully filed New Drug Applications with the FDA (phase III studies) for the treatment of Bipolar Disorder. Subsequently, he joined Roche in 2009 focusing his research on the development of novel interventions for treatment resistant forms of Major Depression, particularly targeting pre and post-synaptic metabotropic glutamatergic receptors. Dr. Quiroz is currently a 2014 Master of Business Administration candidate at Columbia University & London Business School.

Simone B. Sartori, PhD

University of Innsbruck, Austria

Dr. Simone Sartori graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Innsbruck in 2000. She established her interest in the pharmacology of neurotransmitters as a research assistant during a temporary stay with Professor Trevor Sharp in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, GB. Dr. Sartori joined the group by Professor Nicolas Singewald in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Innsbruck where she obtained her PhD in 2005 and spent the next four years as a post-doctoral fellow. She was appointed to the departmental staff in 2009. Throughout her time in Innsbruck, Dr. Sartori's research has focused on the pathophysiology and pharmacology of various CNS transmitters, in particular of neuropeptides and the glutamate system, in terms of potential novel strategies for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.

Carlos Zarate, MD

National Institute of Mental Health, NIH

Carlos A. Zarate, MD is Chief Experimental Therapeutics & Pathophysiology Branch and of the Section on Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Division Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Zarate completed his residency training in psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Brockton VAMC division. He later completed a fellowship in Clinical Psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital of the Consolidated Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and remained on staff at McLean Hospital as the Director of the Bipolar and Psychotic Disorders Outpatient Services and Director of the New and Experimental Clinic. From 1998 to 2000 Dr. Zarate was the Chief of the Bipolar and Psychotic Disorders Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 2001, he joined the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at NIMH. His achievements and awards include the Ethel-DuPont Warren Award and Livingston Awards, Consolidated Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Outstanding Psychiatrist Research Award, Massachusetts Psychiatric Association; Program for Minority Research Training in Psychiatry, APA; the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Award; National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Independent Investigator Award; the National Institutes of Health Director's Award Scientific/Medical, and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Award for Bipolar Mood Disorder Research. Dr. Zarate has been elected to membership to the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, to the Board of Councilors for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. He is also a member of the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Zarate's research focuses on the pathophysiology and development of novel therapeutics for treatment-resistant mood disorders as well as the study of biomarkers and neural correlates of treatment response.