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Bipolar Disorders Network

The Network seeks to optimize diagnostic and treatment strategies, fostering research collaboration in bipolar disorders across Europe toward the creation of large-scale databases. The initiatives of the Network have promoted research on clinical, neurobiological and socioeconomic determinants of risk in bipolar disorders, focusing on the challenges associated with the misdiagnosis and delayed treatment, which have substantial impact on people living with the disorder.

History

In 2009 several European researchers developed ENBREC, a disease-oriented EU-wide network designed to foster collaboration between expert centers specialized in research and clinical management of bipolar disorders. This project was funded by FP7 as a support action to set-up the network infrastructure and was also supported by the section for European Network Initiatives of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP-ENI). ENBREC provided an EU-integrated facility for research on underlying mechanisms in bipolar disorder, its epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment. From this initiative stemmed the ECNP Bipolar Disorders Network which continues fostering harmonization of clinical and neurobiological research efforts in bipolar disorders. 

The Bipolar Disorders Network is poised to facilitate clinical and translational research that can provide insights on the neurobiology of the disorder, improve efficiency of the drug discovery pipeline and inform treatment decision making. A specific focus is the development of research initiatives that can drive the development of multimodal predictive models for the risk of bipolar disorder and for mapping the trajectory of its clinical course. We foresee an increasing role of Network science in bipolar disorders essential for the harmonization of the phenotypes, reduction of heterogeneity and improvement of clinical outcomes that still show suboptimal response.

Mirko Manchia, Italy, and Eva Reininghaus, Austria.

Goals

1

Foster research activities in clinical and neurobiological areas of bipolar disorders.

2

Facilitate collaboration among research centers in bipolar disorder within EU and associated countries.

3

Promote interactions between the members of research groups participating in the Network.

4

Facilitate the development of large-scale collaborative efforts focused on data harmonization and sharing among centers.

5

Encourage the preparation of research proposals for the repurposing of drugs for bipolar disorders.

Mirko Manchia

University of Cagliari
Italy

Chair
Eva Reininghaus

Medical University of Graz
Austria

Co-chair
Core members
Member name Institution City Country
Ole Andreassen  Oslo University Hospital Oslo  Norway
Michael Bauer Technische Universität Dresden Dresden Germany 
Frank Bellivier  INSERM Paris France 
Veerle Bergink  Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam The Netherlands 
Deniz Ceylan  Koc University  Istanbul  Türkiye
Max de Leeuw Leiden University Medical Center Leiden The Netherlands
Ana Gonzalez-Pinto  Hospital Santiago Apostol Vitoria  Spain
Tomas Hajek  Dalhousie University Halifax   Canada  
Lars Vedel Kessing Psychiatric Center Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark
Mikael Landen University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden
Pavol Mikolas Technische Universität Dresden Dresden Germany
René Ernst Nielsen Aalborg University Hospital Aalborg Denmark
Andreas Reif  University Hospital Frankfurt Frankfurt  Germany
Philipp Ritter Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital Dresden Germany
Gonzalo Salazar de Pablo King's College London London United Kingdom
Thomas Schulze  Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Munich  Germany
Jan Scott  University of Newcastle Newcastle United Kingdom
Alessio Squassina University of Cagliari Cagliari  Italy
Eduard Vieta  Fundació Clínic for the Biomedical Research Barcelona  Spain
Nefize Yalin National Institute for Mental Health Maryland USA
Aysegul Yildiz  Dokuz Eylül University Izmir  Türkiye
Shell members
Member name Institution City Country
Andreas Bechdolf Vivantes Klinikum am Urban Berlin Germany
Hilary Blumberg Yale School of Medicine New Haven USA
Bruno Etain University of Paris Paris France
Andrea Fagiolini University of Siena Siena Italy
John Geddes University of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom
Guy Goodwin University of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom
Chantal Henry Hospital Albert Chenevier Creteil France
Ralph Kupka VU University Medical Center Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
Trine Vik Lagerberg Oslo University Hospital Oslo Norway
Rasmus Licht Aalborg University Hospital Aalborg   Denmark
Monica
Martinez-Cengotitabengoa		 Hospital Universitario Araba-Santiago Madrid Spain
Gunnar Morken St. Olav's University Hospital
Norwegian University of science and Technology
 		 Trondheim Norway
Marcella Rietschel Heidelberg University Mannheim Germany
Emanuel Severus Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital Dresden Germany
Maj Vinberg  University of Copenhagen Copenhagen  Denmark
Early Career Academy member
Member name Institution City Country
Hanne Lie Kjaerstad Psychiatric Center Copenhagen Frederiksberg  Denmark
Luisa Klahn University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden
>

Publications

Research projects

R-LiNK

To improve outcomes of bipolar I disorder cases prescribed lithium through the application of stratified approaches and optimize the early prediction of lithium response using a set of multi-modal biomarkers

Grant agreement no. 754907
REALMENT

The EU-funded REALMENT project aims to optimise the treatment of mental disorders through novel precision medicine strategies based on current pharmaceutical options.

Grant agreement no. 964874
Psych-STRATA

The project intends to analyze extensive clinical, genetic and biological data of psychiatric patients to establish criteria for early detection of treatment resistance, proposing treatment strategies for patients at risk.

Grant agreement no. 101057454
European Brain Research Area

Facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration, knowledge and data sharing, to support innovative translational research, from basic to clinical and public health research, for the benefit of patients, focusing on the transdiagnostic disease-modifying prevention of severe mental disorders and improved care for established bipolar disorders.

Grant agreement no. 825348