Betina Elfving Awarded Thematic Grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark
Associate Professor Betina Elfving has been awarded over 3 million DKK for her project, "A View into the Depressed Brain Using Plasma and Saliva as "Liquid Biopsies.""
The funding comes from the Independent Research Fund Denmark’s thematic program, "Better Framework for Research in Psychiatry," supporting innovative research in mental health. The project is conducted in collaboration with Professor Gitte Moos Knudsen and Professor Vibe Gedsø Frøkjær, Copenhagen University.
About the project
Title: A view into the depressed brain using plasma and saliva as “liquid biopsies””
Project overview: Depression currently affects millions of people worldwide, with women being twice as likely as men to suffer from the condition. Gender differences are also evident in symptoms and responses to treatment. Treatment often proves inadequate, showing little to no effect or taking several weeks to be effective.
Because diagnosis relies solely on symptoms, identifying biological markers (biomarkers) in blood or saliva could support faster and more accurate diagnoses for individual patients. Clinically, microRNAs (miRNAs) have shown significant potential as biomarkers in various disorders. MiRNAs are highly expressed in the brain and are known to be “packaged” in extracellular vesicles (EVs) for transport into blood and saliva.
In mental disorders, changes in the EV content have been observed during diagnosis and disease progression. However, few studies have explored this connection in relation to depression.
This project involves blood and saliva samples from healthy controls and patients with depression, both before and after treatment. Using advanced techniques, the expression of miRNAs is analyzed, with a particular focus on sex differences and EVs. The content of EVs provides valuable insight into the changes occurring in the brain during psychiatric disorders. Blood and saliva thus serve as "windows" to examine the changes associated with depression.
In the future, these findings could offer a stronger basis for clinical decisions, enabling more tailored and sex-specific treatments for depression.
Contact
More information on the grant
Find information on the grant on the website of the Independent Research Fund Denmark