The Deakin-led SYDNICAT project, which hopes to discover new treatments for schizophrenia, is now recruiting.
The project received a $5 million National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Synergy Grant in late 2024 and is now looking for 30 participants currently taking the medication Clozapine, which can be an effective treatment for schizophrenia.
Researchers from the Deakin Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT) will compare the biological characteristics of individuals who respond to Clozapine treatment to those who do not. This will hopefully allow researchers to find new treatment avenues for people with Clozapine-resistant schizophrenia.
Deakin researcher Dr James McLure, a SYNDICAT researcher who also has lived experience of schizophrenia, said continuing to search for more effective medications and other interventions for schizophrenia is key.
‘Medication has been one of the constants throughout my personal growth and healing and I now see it as a wellbeing tool, rather than the hinderance I first thought it to be,’ Dr McLure said.
‘The medication I have taken over the past 20 years cleared the delusions and hallucinations I experienced while unwell. It also helped me to connect with a true and not imagined reality, consequently improving the disconnection I experienced.’
SYNDICAT will screen a library of drugs currently used to treat a variety of medical conditions. The aim is to find a TGA-approved, cheap, safe, well-tolerated medication that can be repurposed as a schizophrenia treatment. If such a medication can be found, the project will proceed immediately to preliminary clinical trials to be tested in the wider population.
The search for better schizophrenia treatments
IMPACT Director Deakin Distinguished Professor Michael Berk highlights the lack of current effective treatments for schizophrenia. Professor Berk said there’s an urgent need to provide people with schizophrenia, and their carers, hope of improved quality of life and renewed ability to make greater contributions to their families, workplaces, and society.
‘Existing pharmacotherapies are often inadequate, with only a quarter of those with psychosis fully returning to their normal lives.
‘Development of new chemical entities costs hundreds of millions of dollars and takes one to two decades. Our drug repurposing approach greatly reduces cost and time to develop new treatment options. Millions of lives could be saved and improved with better treatment options,’ Professor Berk said.
Professor Ken Walder’s team will use human adult stem cells to generate patient derived co-cultures of neurons and astrocytes, essentially a brain in a dish.
‘The cells retain the entire genetic material of the donors and are the best available cell system for modelling mental health disorders and drug discovery,’ Professor Walder said.
‘This approach bypasses our lack of understanding of the biology of schizophrenia and will identify candidate drugs for repurposing.
’The aim is to find a repurposed drug that will shift the profile of the brain to be more like that of the Clozapine responsive or healthy samples, in what is known as a disease reversal screening.
A holistic, real-world approach to schizophrenia research
Dr McLure said including the voices of those with lived experience in research is crucial for a nuanced and accurate approach.
‘An example of this is in mental health. The past 70 years schizophrenia research has been increasingly focussed on “recovery”. This is seen as returning to a baseline level of functioning and wellbeing; this is not always what those with lived experience have experienced.
‘Post illness there is the development of a new self, which we need to nurture and grow. Importantly we can personally grow and continue to heal life-long. The growth doesn’t plateau or reach “baseline”. It is a humble admission that we will keep growing and improving our mental health for the rest of our lives.
This is the type of understanding people with lived experience can provide in research. When listened to, we can shift long held paradigms in research through our lived experience.
Dr James McClure
How to get involved
The study is looking for 30 participants who meet the following criteria:
Adults aged 18-65 with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
Currently treated with Clozapine (marketed most commonly as Clozaril or Clopine for at least two months)
Able to attend a single face-to-face session at Swinburne University, Hawthorn Campus, for a clinical assessment
Able to donate a small blood sample (approximately 20ml)
Not pregnant or breastfeeding
Not currently enrolled on another clinical trial
Participants will receive a $50 gift card at the end of the face-to-face visit to cover travel/parking costs.
Register your interest in participating.
This article was originally created and published by Deakin Research and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
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