Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population and requires lifelong treatment. However, currently available treatments can alleviate only a fraction of the symptoms. Andressoo team studied how a protein called glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) influences the disease. By implementing the uncovered mechanism, Andressoo team was able to create an animal model of schizophrenia which in turn allowed identification of a drug which can reverse the disease. However, to proceed to clinical trials, better patient characterization, stratification and understanding on the drug action is required. This application brings together clinical experts Dr Peter Falkai (GE), a biotechnology company to create better tests for analysing patient sub-groups (Protobios/ Dr T. Timmusk, EST) and pre-clinical analysis expert (Dr J.O. Andressoo, FI) to build information needed for designing clinical trials.

2022

2025