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Yale Mood Disorders Research Program (MDRP)

Our Mission

Welcome! The Yale Mood Disorders Research Program (MDRP) is dedicated to understanding the causes of mood and related disorders, and suicide risk, across the lifespan. The MDRP brings together a multi-disciplinary group of scientists from across the Yale campus in a highly collaborative research effort. We use a wide variety of scientific methods to study how genetic and environmental factors affect the brain and lead to the development of mood disorders. Goals of the MDRP include the identification of biological markers for mood disorders and discovery of new detection and treatment strategies. We hope that these research efforts will lead to new and improved methods for early detection and treatment to reduce the suffering of mood disorders and suicide.

Examples of our Current Research Projects:

  • Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of brain circuitry differences
  • Multimodal MRI study to identify brain markers of suicidal thoughts and behavior
  • Studies using recently developed non-invasive brain scanning techniques that use light to assess the brain
  • Study of novel mechanisms implicated in bipolar disorder from blood cells of stem cells and stem cell-derived brain organoids
  • Study of brain changes related to genetic variations that are associated with bipolar disorder and suicide