This study will collect clinical and biomarker data from patients and controls to identify a) a blood-based diagnostic biomarker for mental disorders, and b) a blood-based biomarker that could be used as a surrogate end-point for the principal neuropsychiatric symptoms.
Specific research questions are:
Can blood-based biomarkers provide a faster more objective diagnosis for major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders or schizophrenia? Can the same biomarkers also aid in the differential diagnosis from neurodegenerative diseases? Do blood-based synaptic biomarkers correlate with structural and functional brain changes, cognitive performance and psychiatric symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia or Parkinson's disease? Can the blood-based synaptic biomarkers predict therapeutic response in patients with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders or schizophrenia?
