The goal of NARSAD's Independent Investigator Program is to provide support for scientists at the critical juncture between initiating independent research and achieving sustained funding.
The Yale researchers will each receive a two-year grant of about $100,000 to continue research on a variety of brain disorders. Their names and project titles are:
Meenakshi Alreja, associate professor of psychiatry and neurobiology, "Septohippocampal Cholinergic and GABAergic Functions: Modulation by Neurotropic Factors, Stress and Antidepressant Treatment"
Nashaat Boutros, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, "Biological Correlates of Cocaine-Induced Psychosis"
Larry Davidson, associate professor of psychiatry, "School-based Screening, Education and Intervention for Youth at Risk for Serious Mental Illness"
Paul Lombroso, M.D., associate professor in the Yale Child Study Center, "An Animal Model of Tourette's Syndrome"
Bita Moghaddam, associate professor of psychiatry and neurobiology, "Neurotransmitter Dynamics Associated with rTMS in Primates"
The Yale grant winners are among 40 scientists honored by NARSAD with grants totaling $3.9 million. NARSAD believes grant recipients will play key roles in discovering the causes, new treatments and eventual cures for mental illness.