Robert T. Malison, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit and Neuroscience Research Training Program at Yale School of Medicine, has been awarded a Distinguished Investigator Grant by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
The foundation awarded $1.7 million in Distinguished Investigator Grants to 17 scientists conducting innovative projects in diverse areas of neurobiological and behavioral research. Recipients of the $100,000, one-year grants are seeking new potential targets for understanding and treating a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders that affect one in five people, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, schizophrenia, and psychosis.
Malison’s study is titled, “Imaging Complement Component 4 (C4) Gene Dose Effects On Human Synaptic Density in Schizophrenia in Vivo Using 11C-UCB-J PET.” It is a highly innovative study of synaptic density in schizophrenia examined using PET imaging in relation to complement genotype.
Malison has spent 20 years doing patient-oriented research into the neurobiology, neuropharmacology, and genetics of stimulants, including both cocaine and methamphetamine addiction.
By funding creative research that explores new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders, the Distinguished Investigator Grants support and encourage established scientists to advance our understanding about mental illness, and brain and behavior disorders
Jeffrey Borenstein, MD, President and CEO, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
His was among 17 projects selected for funding by the foundation’s Scientific Council, composed of 176 leading experts across disciplines in brain and behavior research.
“By funding creative research that explores new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders, the Distinguished Investigator Grants support and encourage established scientists to advance our understanding about mental illness, and brain and behavior disorders,” said foundation President and CEO Jeffrey Borenstein, MD, in a statement. “These grants serve as seed capital for new approaches that might otherwise go unfunded.”
The foundation since 1987 has awarded more than $380 million to fund more than 5,500 grants to more than 4,500 leading scientists around the world. This has led to over $3.8 billion in additional funding for these scientists.