Let's Talk: Using Genomic Techniques to Better Understand Mental Disorders

In the last few years Bell Canada has started "Let's Talk Day", a day dedicated to increasing conversation and awareness of mental health issues to break through the stigmas associated with mental health. Through "Let's Talk" Bell hopes to encourage those who are suffering to seek help and encourage those who are not suffering to learn more about these very serious disorders. In recognition of this great movement today we are choosing to highlight how genomic studies are helping to give scientists an understanding of the underlying conditions for disorders such as extreme anxiety or depression and helping to direct future pharmacogenic efforts in developing new therapies.

Last year, research published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience demonstrated the role of seratonergic neurons of the Raphe nuclei in mental disorders such as extreme anxiety and depression. Building off this knowledge, a recent paper has used genomic techniques to identify single seratonergic neurons and perform single cell sequencing of transcripts to identify active genes within these neurons. Identification of new targets through a single cell transcriptome approach can direct future studies to potential targets for new therapies; many current drugs only have approximately 60% response rate for many patients.

The authors used YFP, a fluorescent protein, to specifically label the neurons they were interested in so that they could isolate single cells. From single cells they were able to isolate the total mRNA from the cell and build libraries for RNA-Seq. This gave unique insights to how these neurons are regulated and provides valuable information on which receptors are actively expressed under excitatory or inhibitory conditions and provides direction for future drug efficacy studies (for more detailed information read the paper).

Engaging in conversations about mental health and breaking through the stigmas associated with it is a very important topic. At Aurora we are extremely proud to be able to support the kind of research that can make real, tangible impacts on people's lives. For more information about how Aurora supports genomic techniques, visit our website here. To learn more about Bell "Let's Talk" and join the conversation, visit the website: http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/.