ECNP in depth: interviews (2017)
September 2017
Michel Hamon, France
Michel Hamon is honorary professor of neuropharmacology at the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, and honorary director of research at the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM).
In recognition of his decades of ground-breaking research on the characterisation of serotonin and its receptors, he was the recipient of the ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award 2017. He spoke to ECNP about how his career unfolded, what research he is excited about today, and the importance of the supporting structures of peer review and communication.
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In 2017, Michel Hamon has delivered his ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award lecture, ‘A journey into serotonin: 40 years of discoveries and surprises’ (PL.04) during the 30th ECNP Congress in Paris.
You can also view the webcast of his presentation. It is free of charge, only requires registration/login to the webpage.
Another highlight is the special video, where Prof. Hamon talks about the importance of multidisciplinary and collaborative research for improvement of mental health, and his experience at the ECNP Congress.
July 2017
Robert Haim Belmaker, Israel
Robert Haim Belmaker has been Professor of Psychiatry at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, for the past 30 years. His career has seen the unfolding of the lithium story, and he has played roles therein both in the clinic and the laboratory.
Lithium was approved for clinical use in the treatment of mania in the US in 1970, having been first approved in some European countries in the early 1960s[1]. This of course was the era of the ‘psychopharmacological revolution’, which saw a number of drugs with psychiatric therapeutic effects coming into the clinic.
ECNP talked to him about Crossing continents: changing ideas in bipolar disorder.
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In 2016 Robert Belmaker gave a lecture at the 29th ECNP Congress in an educational update session (E.04). You can also view the webcast of his presentation.
In this video, Dr Belmaker talks about new developments in lithium research and his experience at the ECNP Congress.
June 2017
Hanna van den Munkhof, USA
Hanna van den Munkhof (Stuber Lab, Department of Psychiatry University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA) is a junior scientist who presented at the 29th ECNP Congress in 2016 on the novel antipsychotic brexpiprazole, which has recently been approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and as an adjunct in major depressive disorder (MDD). Van den Munkhof's findings showed that brexpiprazole reverses a disruption of thalamocortical function induced by phencyclidine, which is used as a pharmacological model of schizophrenia.
She carried out this work as part of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Novel Methods leading to New Medications in Depression and Schizophrenia (IMI-NEWMEDS) consortium, which is part of a Europe-wide initiative to address bottlenecks in drug development.
Van den Munkhof spoke to ECNP to describe her work and life as a junior scientist.
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In 2016 Hanna van den Munkhof gave a lecture in a Junior Scientist symposium (S.12.04). You can view the webcast of Hanna's presentation.
In this video Hanna talks about her experience at the ECNP Congress, and her interests related to the field.
April 2017
Maurizio Popoli, Italy
Maurizio Popoli is professor of Pharmacology at the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milano, Italy.
In the last several years, the role of stress in neuropsychiatric disorders has been a central object of investigation in his research group. ECNP asked him a couple of questions about this.
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In 2016 Maurizio Popoli gave a lecture in a symposium on social stress and psychopathology (S.01).
Here you can view the webcast of his lecture.
In this video he talks about the ECNP Congress, but also about his daily work on the effects of stress.
Read ECNP in depth interviews of the previous years here.
