Oxidative and Inflammatory Biomarkers as Targets for Novel Therapies - Prof Michael Berk

Professor Michael Berk is currently an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and is Alfred Deakin Chair of Psychiatry at Deakin University and Barwon Health, where he heads the IMPACT Strategic Research Centre. He also is an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry, the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health and Orygen Youth Health at Melbourne University, as well as in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He is past president of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and the Australasian Society or Bipolar and Depressive Disorders. He is an ISI highly cited researcher who has published over 800 papers predominantly in mood disorders. His major interests are in the discovery and implementation of novel therapies, and risk factors and prevention of psychiatric disorders.

In this talk, Prof Berk outlines the paucity of new drug development in psychiatry. He focuses on the promising area of oxidative and inflammatory stress as " Every single known risk factor that we have for Major Psychiatric Disorders seems to be transduced through inflammation and oxidative stress".

Take-home Points

• Most drugs to treat psychiatric disorders are discovered serendipitously

• Childhood bullying predicts adult inflammation

• Psychiatric disorders appear to be transduced through inflammation and oxidative stress.

Full article: https://psychscenehub.com/video/oxida...