Lieber Institute for Brain Development

The Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD) is a nonprofit research center located in Baltimore, Maryland, that studies brain development issues such as schizophrenia and autism.[1]The cause of most neuropsychiatric disorders remains unknown and current therapies such as antipsychotics and antidepressants treat symptoms rather than the underlying illness. Lieber is working to unravel the biological basis of these brain disorders and is developing therapies to treat or prevent their development.[2]

Description and research

The Lieber Institute was started in 2010 by Steve and Connie Lieber along with Milton and Tamar Maltz—both families have children with schizophrenia.[3][4][5] Psychiatrist Daniel R. Weinberger is the CEO.[6] Having gathered over 3,000 brains for research purposes, the institute has the largest collection of post-mortem brains diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.[7][2] These brains are used to study the biological basis for mental illnesses.[8] In one study of post-mortem brains, LIBD researchers found that patients with schizophrenia had high levels of DNA methylation in brain regions associated with risk for schizophrenia.[9] They are also developing a drug to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder.[10]

A paper by Lieber scientists found that altering brain proteins caused the cells of autistic brains to behave normally.[11] The specific type of autism is called Pitt–Hopkins syndrome and researchers are looking into possible treatments that could be used for the condition and for other types of autism.[12][13]

Researchers with Lieber published a paper in Nature Medicine that examined the placenta and found that genes and pregnancy problems combine to increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia.[14][15] This study adds to growing evidence that the placenta is critical to understanding the health and course of pregnancy.[16]

In 2019, the Lieber Institute announced a new initiative to study brain diseases in African Americans. The venture is a partnership with the African-American Clergy Medical Research Initiative, a group of clergy leaders in Baltimore. Research suggests that neuropsychiatric diagnoses are 20% more frequent in African-American communities than in communities of European ancestry.[17][18]

References
  1. 2010. "New Brain Research Institute Chooses Home In Johns Hopkins Bioscience Park - 06/07/2010". www.hopkinsmedicine.org. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  2. Emily Mullin. Dissecting brains to find the biological answers to the mysteries of mental disorders. Washington Post, April 8, 2019.
  3. "Inside View: The Lieber Institute for Brain Development". Nature Jobs. 2016. doi:10.1038/nj0496.
  4. "Constance E. Lieber Receives 2017 Honorary Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health for Extraordinary Advocacy and Support of Psychiatric Research". Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. September 13, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  5. Scott Dance. Lieber Institute expanding at Johns Hopkins research park. The Baltimore Sun, July 20, 2013.
  6. Abbott, Alison (2011). "A radical approach to mental illness". Nature. 477 (7363): 146. Bibcode:2011Natur.477..146A. doi:10.1038/477146a. PMID 21900988.
  7. Emily Mullin [Inside the World’s Largest Collection of PTSD Brains https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602644/inside-the-worlds-largest-collection-of-ptsd-brains/] MIT Technology Review, October 14, 2016.
  8. Kathryn May [Business and the brain: How some scientists hope to cure mental illness http://business.financialpost.com/brain-health/business-and-the-brain-how-some-scientists-hope-to-cure-mental-illness] Financial Post, January 12, 2015.
  9. Megan Brooks [Schizophrenia Tied to Epigenetic Changes Before Birth http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/855475] MedScape, December 4, 2015.
  10. Heather Walker [New drug could prevent PTSD in trauma victims http://woodtv.com/2017/02/21/new-drug-could-prevent-ptsd-in-trauma-victims/] WoodTV Channel 8, February 21, 2017.
  11. Rannals, Matthew D; Hamersky, Gregory R; Page, Stephanie Cerceo; Campbell, Morganne N; Briley, Aaron; Gallo, Ryan A; Phan, Badoi N; Hyde, Thomas M; Kleinman, Joel E; Shin, Joo Heon; Jaffe, Andrew E; Weinberger, Daniel R; Maher, Brady J (2016). "Psychiatric Risk Gene Transcription Factor 4 Regulates Intrinsic Excitability of Prefrontal Neurons via Repression of SCN10a and KCNQ1". Neuron. 90 (1): 43–55. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.02.021. PMC 4824652. PMID 26971948.
  12. Meredith Cohn. Lieber scientists discover how rare form of autism works and a possible treatment. The Baltimore Sun, March 11, 2016.
  13. PHRF (March 11, 2016). "MAHER LAB IDENTIFIES POTENTIAL DRUG TARGETS FOR PITT HOPKINS". pitthopkins.org. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  14. Dana G. Smith. The Placenta Is Now a Suspect In Heightening Schizophrenia Risk. Scientific American, May 28, 2018.
  15. Kiera Butler. Researchers Just Made a Disturbing Discovery About Your Child’s Schizophrenia Risk. Mother Jones, May 31, 2018.
  16. Apoorva Mandavilli. The Placenta, an Afterthought No Longer An ephemeral organ, long dismissed merely as afterbirth, increasingly is viewed as critical to understanding the health and course of pregnancy. New York Times, December 3, 2018.
  17. Jennifer Couzin-Frankel. New effort aims to study brain diseases in African-Americans. Science, March 22, 2019.
  18. Daniel R. Weinberger, Alvin C. Hathaway Sr. Research will support personalized medicine for African Americans. Baltimore Sun, March 21, 2019.

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