RQSHA Neuroscientific symposium

Biomarkers and molecular mechanisms of mood disorders and suicide: recent advances

In view of the forthcoming inauguration of its Biomarkers and Molecular Mechanisms axis, RQSHA is pleased to invite researchers, clinicians and stakeholders from the clinical, community, academic and governmental spheres to attend a symposium designed to highlight the latest advances in the neuroscience of mental health. The panel of nine experts will present new clinical, pre-clinical and translational perspectives on mood disorders, enhancing our understanding and ability to better target and treat them through the identification of biomarkers.

More specifically, the day will focus on the use of different animal models to study anxiety-depressive disorders. We will explore the impact of different types of stress on the emotional response induced by them. The underlying molecular mechanisms, including transcriptional, functional and cellular changes at central and peripheral levels, will be addressed from clinical, pre-clinical and translational perspectives. Finally, the impact of psychosocial components, sexual differences and gender diversity in different clinical populations will also be discussed.

Overall, the symposium will showcase the initiative and dynamism of this new axis, demonstrating the originality and relevance of the scientific research activities being carried out there. The symposium will briefly present the resources offered by the new axis to foster the development of research and the identification of new biomarkers associated with mood disorders and suicide. Finally, by inviting everyone to take part in this day, the axis hopes to encourage discussion around the development of new approaches, concepts and collaborations that will stimulate Quebec leadership in mental health research, and more specifically in the field of mood disorders and suicide.

***Please note that presentations will be given in both English and French.***

Preliminary program for the day

10:00    Welcome address (Naguib Mechawar, Douglas Research Centre)

10:05     Presentation of the new axis, Biomarkers and molecular mechanisms (Benoît Labonté, CERVO)

10:15     Sex-specific roles of astrocytes in stress-induced behavioural dysfunction (Ciaran Murphy-Royal, CR-CHUM)

11:00     Stress-induced neurovascular and neuroimmune alterations underlie depression vs resilience (Caroline Ménard, CERVO)

11:45     Serotonergic inputs to the ventral hippocampus underlie sex differences in anxiety (Bénédicte Amilhon, CHU Sainte-Justine)

12:30    Molecular mechanisms of depression in men and women and their behavioral correlates in animal models (Benoît Labonté, CERVO)

13:15   Lunch

14:15    Vulnerability to psychotrauma and exosomal biosignature: towards precision pharmacotherapy in psychiatry (Jessica Deslauriers, CR-CHU de Québec-ULaval)

15:00    Using single-cell omics to better understand the sex-associated molecular changes in depression (Corina Nagy, IUSM Douglas)

15:45    Allostatic Load in Biological Psychiatry / La charge allostatique en psychiatrie biologique (Robert-Paul Juster, IUSMM)

16:30   Keynote speaker: GABA and cognitive impairment in depression and age: origin, mechanisms and new treatments (Étienne Sibille, CAMH)

17:30  Closing remarks (Patricia Conrod, CHU Sainte-Justine)