Current Studies
No mood illness is the same. Our brain circuit targeted approach leverages cutting edge neuroscience for personalized treatment.
Click to learn more about some of our ongoing projects:
To demonstrate that brenipatide, when given as an adjunctive treatment to a stable standard-of-care (SoC) medication regimen, is superior to placebo in delaying the return of major depressive symptoms.
Participants in the study will be randomly assigned to receive either the investigational drug or placebo which will be self-administered injection in addition to your current medications. Participation in the study can last up to 15 months and possibly longer, including screening, treatment, and follow-up period. Participation in this study does not involve any cost to you. Reimbursement for study-related time and reasonable travel expenses may be available, depending on the study.
ClinicalTrials.gov
Learn more: https://e.lilly/4lTh0Wd
For more information, please contact Walid Makhoul at walid.makhoul@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-573-2409.
To compare the efficacy of brenipatide versus placebo as an adjunctive therapy to stable standard-of-care (SoC) medications in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD), as measured by the time to relapse in participants with BD who are in remission or near remission with residual symptoms.
Participants in the study will be randomly assigned to receive either the investigational drug or placebo which will be self-administered injection in addition to your current medications. Participation in the study can last up to 15 months and possibly longer, including screening, treatment, and follow-up period. Participation in this study does not involve any cost to you. Reimbursement for study-related time and reasonable travel expenses may be available, depending on the study.
ClinicalTrials.gov
Learn more: https://e.lilly/3Ha8XFz
For more information, please contact Walid Makhoul at walid.makhoul@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-573-2409.
Determining whether aiTBS, an accelerated form of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), enhances emotion regulation in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) using computer tasks and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess behavioral and neural changes.
Emotion dysregulation in bipolar disorder (BD) is linked to poor functioning, relationship difficulties, reduced productivity, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Developing fast-acting treatments that improve emotion regulation (ER) is essential for achieving and maintaining remission and enhancing long-term outcomes in BD. This mechanistic study will examine whether stimulating the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), a key region in ER-related brain circuitry, using accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (aiTBS), a rapid form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, can enhance ER in depressed individuals with BD. Improvements will be measured through changes in IPL-related functional connectivity and performance on ER behavioral tasks following real versus sham aiTBS in individuals with BD.
For more information, please contact Joanna Zheng at joanna.zheng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-746-3513.
To test efficacy of a new psychotherapeutic strategy, closed loop real time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback, for reducing neural perseveration of negative states as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD).
We will evaluate the effectiveness of a novel psychotherapeutic approach (closed-loop, real-time fMRI neurofeedback) in reducing negative attention bias and depressive symptoms. Unlike traditional methods that provide feedback through external gauges or scales, this approach uses an individual’s whole-brain activity, decoded via cloud-based machine learning, to generate personalized, real-time feedback. This study aims to establish real-time fMRI neurofeedback as a method for decreasing attention to negative stimuli by reducing persistent negative neural states in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). Findings will help refine neurofeedback strategies and deepen understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying negative attention bias and depression.
For more information, please contact Ramya Ashish at ramya.ashish@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-573-9058.
Determining if active vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy compared to a no-stimulation control group improves health outcomes for subjects with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
VNS Therapy is FDA-approved device for depression. This study is being conducted at the request of the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid services (CMS) to show VNS Therapy treatment is reasonable and necessary to treat Medicare beneficiaries with TRD. ClinicalTrials.gov
For more information, please contact Joanna Zheng at joanna.zheng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-746-3513.
Discovering more about how TMS affects the communication between brain regions
TMS is a new treatment that is starting to be used to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. However, we do not have a good idea for how it changes the brain to make people feel better. This work is designed to help us understand how TMS changes how different parts of the brain talk to each other. When we finish the study, we may be able to use what we learn to develop new TMS treatments for other psychiatric disorders like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
A multi-site study to determine the optimal dose for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
Deciphering Mechanisms of ECT Outcomes and Adverse Effects (DECODE) is a multi-site prospective study designed to study the mechanism of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-induced antidepressant benefits and cognitive adverse effects to determine optimal ECT dose. We will study 230 patients at or over 21 years old with MDD clinically referred for ECT at UCLA, UNM, and UTSW. All patients will complete clinical and cognitive measures and undergo sMRI and rs-fMRI. All MRI data will be processed and harmonized identically at a central imaging core (UPenn) to ensure uniformity. EEG data will be collected as well. Please contact Brendan Woods at brendan.woods @pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-573-4229.
Utilizing computational methods to analyze datasets from HCP and study the interplay of brain structure, function, and connectivity in disordered emotional states
We will leverage and integrate four datasets encompassing anxious misery (AM) disorders that were originally collected using the state-of-the-art experimental protocols of the Human Connectome Project (HCP). We will extract harmonized imaging derived phenotypes (IDPs) from resting state (rsfMRI) and task (tfMRI) functional, structural (sMRI) and diffusion (dMRI) imaging data. To address the complex interrelationships between brain structure, function and connectivity and features of illness underlying disordered emotional states differing in severity from adolescence through adulthood, we will use novel computational data-driven approaches including group regularized canonical correlation analysis (GRCCA) and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) methods. If you are interested in participating, please contact Joanna Zheng at joanna.zheng@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 215-746-3513.