News

News

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June 2015: PsyRING staff review thalamic dysfunction in schizophrenia.

In this review the PsyRING staff provide a new perspective on the role of thalamic dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Pratt, J.A. and Morris, B.J. (2015) The thalamic reticular nucleus: a functional hub for thalamocortical network dysfunction in schizophrenia and a target for drug discovery. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 29, 127-137

 

December 2012: PsyRING staff publish dramatic new insight into the causes of schizophrenia.

This paper provides a fundamental new insight into the genetic and cellular mechanisms underlying the development of schizophrenia. The work, performed as part of the funding from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, reveals a common genetic variant with the largest effect on disease risk yet known, along with detailed characterisation of the biological effect of the mutation. The results suggest that JNK signalling is likely to be extremely important for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

Winchester, C.L., Ohzeki, H., Vouyiouklis, D.A., Thompson, R., Penninger, J.M., Yamagami, K., Norrie, J.D., Hunter, R., Pratt, J.A., Morris, B.J. (2012) Converging evidence that sequence variations in the novel candidate gene MAP2K7 (MKK7) are functionally associated with schizophrenia. Hum. Mol. Genet. 21, 4910-4921                                           

June 2012: PsyRING staff publish review of preclinical models of aspects of schizophrenia.

In this critical review the PsyRING staff address the extent to which an animal model can reproduce key features of schizophrenia. The review synthesises current understanding and proposes a framework for future progress.

Pratt, J.A., Winchester, C.L., Dawson, N, and Morris, B.J. (2012) Advancing schizophrenia drug discovery: optimizing rodent models to bridge the translational gap. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 22, 560-79                                                

 

November 13th-17th 2010: Society for Neuroscience 

Meet PsyRING at stand 2095 at the Society for Neuroscience  2010 meeting in San Diego.

Dr Neil Dawson will be presenting a poster - "Subchronic phencyclidine (PCP) treatment produces schizophrenia - like alterations in functional integration and brain network structure in rats." (presentation number 880.16) from 4-5pm on Wednesday 17th Nov.

Dr David Mark Thomson will be presenting a poster - "Differential effects of PCP in an effort based reward task and the sucrose preference task in the rat." (presentation number 880.15) from 3-4pm on Wednesday 17th Nov.
  
See you there!

 

April 12-14th 2010 PsyRING at BioTrinity 2010
 
PsyRING will be exhibiting on Stand #58 at the BioTrinity 2010 Conference taking place at the Newbury Racecourse in Berkshire on April 12-14.    BioTrinity brings together investors, global pharma and innovative R&D companies from many countries and PsyRING looks forward to meeting existing collaborators as well as the opportunity to engage with potential clients, partners and investors.
 
October 17th - 21st 2009: Society for Neuroscience.

PsyRING will be exhibiting at Booth 2012 at the 39th Annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Chicago from 17th- 21st of October 2009.

 

June 17th 2009: PsyRING Staff Win Award

At the recent annual University of Strathclyde Research Day, attended by around 400 researchers from both academia and industry, PsyRING staff won project funding in a competitive ‘Dragons’ Den’ style event.  Dr Neil Dawson, a Post Doctoral Fellow in PsyRING, supported by Professor Judy Pratt, a PsyRING Director, won the award to fund a project entitled ‘Using complex network analysis to investigate functional brain connectivity in preclinical models relevant to mental health’. The project involves interdisciplinary collaboration between staff within PsyRING, who are part of the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, and Professor Des Higham in the Department of Mathematics, at the University of Strathclyde.

Strathclyde’s Research Day offers researchers the opportunity to develop their ‘intraprenurial’ skills by facilitating interdisciplinary interactions in order to identify and develop future research ideas and business opportunities.  The award was made because this project was recognised as a novel and functional collaboration between two distinct disciplines as well as contributing to the progress of the technology and its applications.

The project builds upon the established expertise of PsyRING staff in imaging functional changes within the CNS in preclinical models relevant to psychiatric disorders and their treatment (Cochran et al., Neuropsychopharmacology, 28:265–275, 2003). The technologies developed and applied throughout this project place PsyRING at the forefront in characterising functional connectivity within the CNS and these methodologies have already proved useful in characterising altered functional connectivity in preclinical models relevant to schizophrenia and in identifying possible neural targets for pro-cognitive drugs. These technologies are particularly relevant to companies working to develop drugs for the treatment of CNS disorders, particularly those for psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and add a new dimension to the services already offered by PsyRING.

If you would like more information, please contact: busdev@psyring.co.uk

 

 

April 19th – 22nd 2009: British Neuroscience Association 20th National Meeting

 

 

Professor Judy Pratt organised and chaired a symposium on GABA-A receptors, cortical function and psychiatric disease at the 20th National meeting of the British Neuroscience Association in Liverpool.
Speakers included Professor W. Wisden (Imperial College London), Professor B. Morris (University of Glasgow) and Professor M.A. Whittington (Newcastle University)

 

February 6th 2009: Psychiatric drug research partnership gathers strength

More patients are set to benefit from a drug research institute, involving the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, as it prepares to enter its second year.
PsyRING, which specialises in psychiatric drug development, provides an integrated portfolio of services and collaborative opportunities incorporating a strong clinical component, to companies active in drug research and development.
The services include a range of high quality models and tools for target identification, target validation and compound testing in preclinical and clinical settings. The strong translational element enables psychiatric drugs with potential to be screened and selected for trial, thereby reducing the failure rate in clinical trials. The institute offers its services, involving advanced technology, clinical resources and novel ideas, to a broad international range of clients. The universities and the NHS authority have now signed a new memorandum of understanding, designed to strengthen the partnership.
PsyRING draws on the skills of the Strathclyde
Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, the Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences at Glasgow and Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow.

 

 

March 11th 2008: PsyRING Inaugural Symposium

A symposium to launch PsyRING and to celebrate the success of YRING over the past decade was held in the Kelvin Art Gallery, University of Glasgow on 11th March 2008. The symposium, entitled ‘New developments in the understanding and treatment of Schizophrenia’ was attended by 100 delegates. Representatives from many major Pharmaceutical companies, including Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. of Japan, were present. Academic neuroscientists and clinicians also attended, along with representatives from the NHS and Scottish Enterprise. The PsyRING team provided overviews of the achievements of YRING in the previous ten years of collaboration with Mitsubishi Pharma.  This was combined with an analysis of our current knowledge of the causes of CNS dysfunction in schizophrenia.  Future plans and activities across the areas of preclinical and clinical development of drugs for psychiatric disease were also highlighted. Keynote lectures, provided by Prof. Paul Harrison (University of Oxford) and Prof. Douglas Blackwood (University of Edinburgh), allowed attendees to gain an excellent insight into the latest research into genetic factors in schizophrenia. The symposium provided an exceptional opportunity for experts in the field of schizophrenia research and treatment to discuss emerging trends in drug discovery for the disease.

 

 

March 7th 2008: New psychiatric research institute open for business

A Glasgow-based drug research institute, specialising in psychiatric drug development, is expanding its work to offer comprehensive services to companies and scientific partners.

PsyRING (the Psychiatric Research Institute of Neuroscience in Glasgow) a collaborative venture between the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, has an extensive and successful track record of drug research and development in the field of mental health. It is led by three prominent experts in neuroscience and psychiatric illnesses- Professor Judy Pratt, Professor Brian Morris and Professor Robert Hunter. ( Full press release.)

 

February 3rd-7th 2008:  14th Biennial Winter Workshop on schizophrenia and bipolar disorders

PsyRING staff, Professor Bob Hunter (Clinical Director) and Dr Catherine Winchester (Team Leader, Molecular Biology and Genetics) attended the 14th Biennial Winter Workshop on schizophrenia and bipolar disorders in Montreux, Switzerland, 3rd-7th February 2008. ( More.)

 

November 2007: PsyRING formed from YRING

 

The Yoshitomi Research Institute of Neuroscience in Glasgow (YRING) represented a ten year research collaboration between Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation (MPC; one of Japan's leading pharmaceutical companies - formerly Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.), the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow. From 2007, PsyRING is building on the success of this collaboration, and is expanding to work with other partners in addition to MPC.