Ann Ragin
Northwestern University, IL·Neuroscience
Depression is far more common in people living with HIV than in the general population, and the reasons are not fully understood. One candidate is dopamine, a brain chemical messenger involved in motivation and reward.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
Psychology
- Topics
major depressive disorder
depression
dopamine
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2031
What they work on
- Test whether dopamine transporter levels in the striatum, measured by SPECT/CT, are reduced in people with HIV and major depression, and whether they correlate with symptom severity and MRI brain alterations.
- Determine whether 24 weeks of pramipexole, a dopamine-mimicking drug, restores dopamine transporter levels more than the SSRI escitalopram in people with HIV and depression.
- Test whether greater symptom remission with pramipexole, assessed with Research Domain Criteria measures, tracks with changes in striatal and midbrain MRI and in brain networks such as the salience and default mode networks.
More about the research
This study asks whether people with HIV and major depressive disorder (MDD) have reduced dopamine signaling. It also asks whether a drug that boosts dopamine relieves their depression better than a standard antidepressant.
Why it matters
People with HIV face markedly higher rates of depression. If dopamine deficits help explain this, a dopamine-targeting drug such as pramipexole could become a better-matched treatment option. Insights into dopamine's role may also inform understanding of major depression more broadly, which affects 264 million people worldwide.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Manish Jha
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Neuroscience·Early-career
Identify patterns of resting-state functional connectivity linked to irritability, using 7 Tesla fMRI in 30 healthy adults and 60 adults with major depressive disorder.
Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
Northeastern University, MA·Psychology
Test whether mindfulness-based real-time fMRI neurofeedback engages its intended brain target by reducing hyperconnectivity within the default mode network, the circuit active during inward self-focused thought, in adolescents aged 13 to 18 with major depressive disorder.
Aurelio Galli
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Neuroscience
Determine how the N-terminus of the human dopamine transporter binds syntaxin 1 (Stx1), a membrane protein involved in neurotransmitter release, and how amphetamine-induced phosphorylation of Stx1 controls this binding.
The school
Northwestern University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 536 research doctorates a year.
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