A study by researchers at Nanjing University has demonstrated that in mice, depression-like phenotypes induced by paternal stress can be inherited by the offspring through a causal role of microRNAs in the father's sperm.
A genome-wide look at variants in RNA-binding proteins has revealed that such variants were disproportionately linked to the risk of multiple psychiatric disorders.
DUBLIN – A re-evaluation of psychedelic drugs as potential therapies for major depressive disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other neuropsychiatric conditions has been underway for some time, but this broad effort gained further momentum during 2020, as commercial firms started to raise money at the level needed to enable the field to start moving from small-scale academic studies to the kind of industry-scale trials that will be needed to convince regulators, patients and physicians that these molecules could become viable treatment options.
Using in vivo imaging technology, investigators at the University of Utah and the University of Padua have identified a new signaling mechanism for glutamate that was linked to the onset of spreading depression or spreading depolarization, a neuronal activity pattern that plays a role in multiple neurological disease states. In mouse models of migraine, glutamate, which is the major excitatory neurotransmitter of the brain, was released in what the authors called "plumes" or puffs.
Using in vivo imaging technology, investigators at the University of Utah and the University of Padua have identified a new signaling mechanism for glutamate that was linked to the onset of spreading depression or spreading depolarization, a neuronal activity pattern that plays a role in multiple neurological disease states.
Mymd Pharmaceuticals Inc., the privately held developer of a synthetic derivative of tobacco alkaloids for the potential treatment of autoimmune diseases and age-related disorders, will soon list on Nasdaq via its acquisition of former point-of-care testing company Akers Biosciences Inc., shares of which (NASDAQ:AKER) climbed 29.1% to $2.22 on Nov. 12. The combined company, to be headquartered in Baltimore, will retain Mymd's name and adopt the trading symbol MYMD. Concurrent with the merger, Akers is raising $18 million in a private placement priced at-the-market.
Big Health’s digital therapeutic Sleepio may not only improve insomnia but also reduce symptoms of depression, a study to be published Aug. 19 in the Journal of Sleep Research shows.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Limbix Health Inc. secured $9 million in series A funding for development of Spark, its prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) designed to treat depression in adolescents. GSR Ventures led the round with additional funding from other existing investors, including Sequoia Capital, Storm Ventures, Nextgen Venture Partners and Bixink Therapeutics.
DUBLIN – Compass Pathways Ltd. raised $80 million in a series B round to continue its development of the psychedelic drug psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression.
