UAB Doctor Developing Blood Test to Predict Depression

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2016/05/unnamed-12.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:1632;s:6:"height";i:1224;s:4:"file";s:22:"2016/05/unnamed-12.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:13:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-336x252.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:252;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-771x578.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:578;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-768x576.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:576;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"1536x1536";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"unnamed-12-1536x1152.jpg";s:5:"width";i:1536;s:6:"height";i:1152;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:20:"unnamed-12-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-415x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:415;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-353x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:353;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"unnamed-12-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Amy Sedlis
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => WBHM
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_wp_attachment_image_alt] => Array
        (
            [0] => Beth Seibels holds her granddaughter. Seibels suffers from depression, and hopes new technology will make it easier for doctors to predict who is at risk of becoming depressed.
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:0;s:14:"optimized_size";i:0;s:7:"percent";i:0;}s:5:"sizes";a:1:{s:4:"full";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => already_optimized
        )

)
1637526177 
1463746339

Beth Seibels of Birmingham is 62 years old and has suffered from anxiety and depression for more than 30 years. Two years ago, things got worse. For the first time, she was feeling suicidal.

“I was dying inside,” Seibels says. “You don’t see the other side. You believe that it’s going to be this way forever, and it causes such a hopelessness that you will never get your life back again.”

Seibels had seen countless counselors and psychiatrists and tried numerous different medications. Desperate, she even tried transcranial magnetic brain stimulation. Nothing was helping.

It wasn’t until Beth met psychiatrist Dr. Richard Shelton that her condition significantly improved.

Methods of screening for depression vary widely and most lab tests aren’t helpful. Patient interviews remain the most widely used tool a doctor has at his or her disposal. Many people go undiagnosed. But what if you could find out if you were at risk of becoming depressed or suicidal? Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working to do just that.

As the mother of three grown children and nine grandchildren, Seibels worries that they could become victim to this devastating illness.

According to Shelton, who heads the newly formed Mood Disorders Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, that’s a common concern among patients. It’s something he and his counterpart, neurobiologist Yogesh Dwivedi, are trying to address. Using predictive analytics, they are working to develop a blood test that can detect risk with the ultimate goal of identifying people before they become depressed or even suicidal.

While common for other types of medical conditions, this has rarely, if ever, been done for a mental health malady. Shelton says it’s achievable and that early detection can save lives.

Dr. Richard Shelton.

UAB
Dr. Richard Shelton.

“Once people are sick, it’s often hard to get them well again. And that’s true in cancer. That’s true in depression. That’s true for suicide,” says Shelton.

A blood test for depression already exists, but it can identify someone who’s already depressed. Similar to other medical conditions that use predictive analytics, Shelton’s plan is to refine and perfect the test.

“The work we are doing in the lab here – a blood test that we hope will ultimately help us to develop a way to detect who’s going to become depressed, and people who are going to become depressed who are likely to be suicidal in the future — it’s a big project,” says Shelton. “It involves a lot of complicated chemical analysis, but that’s really the long-term goal.”

The challenge he faces in the lab are thousands of tiny RNA sequences known as MicroRNAs – crucial players in gene expression and protein production. MicroRNAs can actually keep genes from expressing themselves, determining whether a particular protein will be produced. There are literally thousands of these MicroRNAs, and they are extremely sensitive to environmental effects. Shelton wants to understand how such factors, child abuse, chronic stress, death of a loved one, long-term changes in MicroRNAs.

Specifically, he wants to identify the smallest number of MicroRNAs that could be used to create a profile detectable in blood that can be extracted during a routine medical visit. This would ultimately allow clinicians to intervene before a patient becomes ill.

Longitudinal studies are currently underway. Shelton estimates developing the test could take as long as 30 years at his current funding level.

 

Russia launched an experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, the U.S. says

Ukraine raised alarm suggesting Russia may have used an intercontinental ballistic missile to hit the city of Dnipro, but the U.S. National Security Council does not believe it was an ICBM.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s attorney general nominee

Allegations of sex trafficking and drug use had stirred controversy over Matt Gaetz's nomination as attorney general.

This year’s FAFSA is officially open. Early review says it’s ‘a piece of cake’

The FAFSA form is now open to students hoping to get help paying for college in the 2025-26 academic year. Students can expect a much smoother process compared to the last cycle.

He was stuck in a hospital for 8 months. How states can fail people with disabilities

In Georgia and other states, the federal government oversees the treatment of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, because the states have been unable to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the subsequent Olmstead ruling.

Foreign nationals propel U.S. science. Visa limits under Trump could change that

The incoming Trump administration is likely to crack down on the H-1B visas used by tech companies and research institutions to hire top talent from other countries.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

More Front Page Coverage