Brain Matters
Blog

Rethinking Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders (EDs) are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders yet also among the most misunderstood. Dr. Cynthia Bulik, a BBRF Distinguished Investigator, explains her research indicating that anorexia nervosa, the most deadly ED, is also a disorder of the body's metabolic system.

Read More
Highly Individualized Deep-Brain Stimulation Helps a Patient With Severe Treatment-Resistant Depression

We write about a novel idea to address brain-based disorders that has moved from theory to bedside in only 3 years. Called closed-loop neuromodulation, it involves using electrical stimulation—delivered via an implanted deep-brain stimulation (DBS) device—at a precise location in the brain. The

Read More
How Pandemic-Related Stress Affects Families, Parenting, and Child Mental Health

Research on COVID’s impacts indicates how the pandemic is affecting families and child mental health, as well as how racial and socioeconomic factors can exacerbate risk and pose obstacles to care for those who are underserved by the healthcare system.

Read More
Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: What We Know, and Still Don’t Know

In-depth discussion summarizing some of the most important findings to date about the possibility of using psychedelic compounds to treat individuals with psychiatric illness. We feature comments from experts in the field (several of them members of BBRF’s Scientific Council), who have been

Read More
A RESEARCHER'S PERSPECTIVE:  New Knowledge and New Treatment Possibilities in PTSD and Suicide

Lynnette Averill, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine, Yale University, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, studies the causes and consequences of trauma-related psychopathology and suicidality, and is investigating novel rapid-acting interventions.

Read More
Studying Ketamine’s Rapid Effects to Unlock Secrets for Developing Better Antidepressants

We offer A RESEARCHER’S PERSPECTIVE, based on a presentation given by Lisa M. Monteggia, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt University, at a zoom event hosted by BBRF. The topic of her presentation was “Studying Ketamine’s Rapid Effects to Unlock Secrets for Developing Better Antidepressants

Read More
Accelerating Psychiatric Drug Development

Our PATHWAYS TO THE FUTURE story is about an unconventional approach to developing new psychiatric drugs. Based on an initiative by the National Institute of Mental Health, it’s called “Fast-Fail” and is designed to weed out the weakest drug candidates early in the process, to

Read More
The Promise of Stem-Cell Biology: Treating People at High Risk for Psychiatric Illness Before They Become Patients

A story about the research of Dr. Kristen Brennand, which 20 years ago might have sounded like science fiction: taking skin or blood cells harmlessly sampled from psychiatric patients, reprogramming them to a stem-cell-like state, and then directing them to redevelop in culture dishes as brain

Read More
How Early BBRF Grants Helped Place Two Young Investigators on the Path to Major Career Success

"A research career is all about a path. And for me, the path really started with BBRF.”

Read More
A Strong Impulse to Help People Who  Live with Mental Illness Propels a Diverse Career in Clinical Brain Research

Deanna Barch, Ph.D., a much honored research scientist who now chairs the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, did not take long in life to discover her passion.

Read More