Project Overview

Mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder affect over 350 million people around the world. While several effective treatments exist, it is often difficult to match the right treatment to an individual person. Repeated efforts to find the right treatment contribute to poor functioning, low quality of life, and prolongs the time it takes to get well. Most areas of medicine are able to use ‘biomarkers’ or clinical tests, blood tests, or imaging to help diagnose and treat illness. The search for biomarkers in mood disorders is advancing, but one roadblock to progress is the lack of very large, standardized studies of mood disorders that are needed to accurately identify biomarkers.

The aim of the ENABLE platform in the next 3 years is to provide the Canadian neuroscience community a standardized way of collecting biomarker data from individuals with a range of mood disorders symptoms. In addition, this ‘master clinical trial platform’ framework will provide a pool of participants who can be recruited into clinical trials. More efficient recruitment into clinical trials will increase the pace of research and discovery in mood disorders. This platform will be built upon the 11-year history of the CAN-BIND research network. This ENABLE platform will focus on collaborative partnerships with academic, community, industry and government stakeholders to enhance depression research and make these rich, fully integrated data openly available to the broader neuroscience research community.

Principal Investigator

Benicio N. Frey , McMaster University

Partners and Donors

Ontario Brain Institute

Janssen R & D

CAN-BIND Solutions Inc.