Medical researchers at Vanderbilt’s Jeffery Conn’s Research Group have discovered a new way to reduce the effects of schizophrenia in mice. The medical breakthrough could have a life-changing impact for the three million people in the United States suffering from schizophrenia.
Conn, a Vanderbilt and Yale University graduate, became interested in developing medications to treat psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia after joining the faculty at Emory University. At Emory, Conn began work to develop new therapeutic approaches to treating schizophrenia. After 12 years at Emory, Conn moved to work at Merck Pharmaceutical company, where he continued to research how schizophrenia operates in the brain.
“At Merck, we started the work to get this program off the ground,” Conn said. “Then I realized that it’s hard to take new approaches in a pharmaceutical setting. Often you are making incremental advances in the existing approaches. This was fundamentally new approach.”
Eventually, Conn decided to move back into academia, and that is when he decided to move to Vanderbilt. Once he arrived on campus, he started the Neuroscience Drug Discovery Center to continue his research. For Conn, the recent advances in discovering a way to limit the effects of schizophrenia, while limiting the adverse side effects of medication, is the culmination of almost two decades of work.
This is really good news. I actually believe this article unlike some of the other news articles that claim “breakthroughs” in schizophrenia treatment.
It’s a shame that it’s 7 or 8 years away from being usable by the public. I guess 7 or 8 years better than never though. Here’s to my 40’s.
They didn’t explain what the “new medicines” exactly are. They just said “alzheimers drugs”. I need more information than that, what is the name of the medication. How many are there? Have these effects been generalized to humans not just mice? What is the mechanism of action?
They have no business leaving out key information like that, I guess I just have to assume there was no breakthrough.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have been tested in negative and cognitive symptoms and some of them have minor effects on those domains.
My question is, do the “new drugs” have a name? I’m going to assume they are a chemical because most drugs are. So naturally they should have a name, why were they unable to tell us that in the article? This is key information.
Perhaps they are being vague for some important reason, if not this just really annoyed me.
Many are homeless it’s sad to say. I know someone who is homeless I knew from childhood and he most likely is a diagnosee like me. He just refuses to get help.
Seems they’re trying to lower dopamine production in certain areas of the brain hoping this won’t cause the cognitive side effects the current medications cause