Minister for Science and
Medical Research Verity
Firth with Professor Cyndi
Shannon Weickert.

Leading schizophrenia researcher, Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert, has discovered that a brain receptor that normally stimulates growth in adolescence is hampered in people with schizophrenia.

The findings open up new opportunities for treatments for schizophrenia, commencing with a world first, three-year clinical drug trial in September.

Professor Shannon Weickert, who holds Australia’s first Chair of Schizophrenia Research, led the research which has recently been published in Human Molecular Genetics.

Her position is a joint initiative of UNSW, the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute and the Schizophrenia Research Institute.

“We now know that this brain receptor doesn’t work in the normal way for people with schizophrenia. With this drug trial we can begin to stimulate it and try and get the neurodevelopmental program back on track.

For some patients we could see improvements in language and memory,” says Professor Shannon Weickert from the School of Psychiatry.

The aim of the trail is to learn how this hormonal modulator can influence thought processing in schizophrenia and determine whether it could be used as a novel therapeutic treatment for cognitive problems in patients.