Schizophrenia Clinical Trials

To collect, preserve, and/or distribute annotated biospecimens and associated medical data to institutionally approved, investigator-directed biomedical research to discover and develop new treatments, diagnostics, and preventative methods for specific and complex conditions. Read Less

This research project will explore negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as motivational deficits, by examining the relationship between inflammation and reward-related brain regions. To accomplish this, we will administer a single infusion of either the anti-inflammatory medication infliximab or placebo (n=10 per group) to patients with high inflammation. This study is important because schizophrenia can be a chronic and debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder and negative symptoms are some of the most difficult aspects of schizophrenia associated with worst functional outcomes. These symptoms do not typically respond to antipsychotic therapies, and as such, there are no current medications to treat negative symptoms. Read Less

Purpose of the study: Evaluate the effect of deep repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (deep rTMS; hereafter abbreviated as "dTMS") on synaptic density measured with positron emission tomography (PET) and the radiotracer \[11C\]UCB-J. The investigators also seek to link plasticity changes in the regions targeted by the electric field (especially, the insula) to changes in the functioning of insula circuits and behavioral cigarette usage in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). Importance of the study: This is the first study designed to directly evaluate the mechanism of action (MOA) of dTMS for smoking disruption in patients with SCZ. Patients with SCZ are a vulnerable population in high, immediate need of new smoking therapeutics for reducing premature morbidity and mortality. Read Less

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an behavioral activation intervention to increase meaningful activity and community participation for people with serious mental illness. The overall objective of this study is to increase engagement in meaningful activities and community participation. The objectives of the project are as follows: 1. To determine if the intervention leads to increases the frequency and variety of activities. 2. To determine if the intervention leads to increases in community mobility. 3. To determine which demographic and environmental factors and mechanisms of action impact the effectiveness of the intervention. 4. To determine if the the intervention leads to an improvement in overall well-being (e.g., improved quality of life). Participants will be asked to attend a 2-hour weekly online session for 10 weeks and then a 1-hour online monthly session for a 3 month maintenance period. For data collection, participants will also be asked to: 1. Complete three, approximately 1-hour interviews at baseline, after the 10 week intervention, and again at the end of the maintenance period; 2. Carry a mobile phone with a global positioning system app to track their movements outside their home for 2 weeks at a time, at three separate times (e.g., baseline, after the intervention, and at the end of the maintenance period); and 3. Complete a 15 minute weekly interviews for 26 weeks about their daily activities and participation. The study will enroll 52 participants split into 4 cohorts of 13. The study will use a multiple baseline design and, as such, all participants will receive the intervention and there is no control group. Read Less

This project proposes to conduct the first study of the predictive utility of olfactory hedonic measurement for targeted psychosocial rehabilitation in schizophrenia. The information gathered from the project is of considerable public health relevance, in that, through simple, reliable olfactory assessment, it will provide knowledge about which individuals are most likely to benefit from these psychosocial interventions. Such information is crucial for tailoring existing interventions and developing new approaches to optimize outcomes in schizophrenia. Read Less

In the current study, the investigators aim to understand the role of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in improving executive function across neuropsychiatric populations known to have deficits in this cognitive domain. Read Less

This study uses a noninvasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study how hallucinations work in schizophrenia. TMS is a noninvasive way of stimulating the brain, using a magnetic field to change activity in the brain. The magnetic field is produced by a coil that is held next to the scalp. In this study the investigators will be stimulating the brain to learn more about how TMS might improve these symptoms of schizophrenia. Read Less

Some people who have what doctors currently call schizophrenia or bipolar disease may actually have a brain disease caused by auto-antibodies. Auto-antibodies are produced when the normal defense mechanism of the body goes wrong and begins to attack the body, similar to "friendly fire." Auto-antibodies attack brain receptors and then the person who has this problem begins to have hallucinations and other manifestations of schizophrenia, like feeling that people can see what they are thinking and also feeling that other people do not like them. If this disease is caused by auto-antibodies, typically the person is well until they are 15 years of age or older, but seldom older than 35 years. Then, in a matter of a few months they begin to have hallucinations and the other symptoms. Doctors still do not know whether some people with schizophrenia or bipolar disease have auto-antibodies attacking their brain. For this reason, in this study some of these patients will receive a treatment that suppresses the auto-antibodies and their symptoms after treatment will be compared with the symptoms of a group of similar patients who are given a preparation that looks like the real treatment, but it is not. Read Less

This is a multicenter, global, 26-week, open-label study to assess the safety and tolerability of lumateperone in pediatric patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Read Less

The aim of the present study is to assess the availability of cannabinoid receptors (CB1R) in the human brain. CB1R are present in everyone's brain, regardless of whether or not someone has used cannabis. The investigators will image brain cannabinoid receptors using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging and the radioligand OMAR, in healthy individuals and several conditions including 1) cannabis use disorders, 2) psychotic disorders, 3) prodrome of psychotic illness and 4) individuals with a family history of alcoholism, 5) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 6) Opioid Use Disorder using the PET imaging agent or radiotracer, \[11C\]OMAR. This will allow us to characterize the number and distribution of CB1R in these conditions. It is likely that the list of conditions will be expanded after the collection of pilot data and as new data on cannabinoids receptor function and psychiatric disorders becomes available. Those in the cannabis us disorder arm of the study will have a PET scan on at least three occasions: once while smoking as usual, once after 48-hours of abstinence from cannabis, and a final time after 4 weeks of abstinence. Additional scans may be conducted within the 4 weeks and the last scan may be conducted well beyond 4 weeks. Similarly, while most schizophrenia patients may get scanned just once, a subgroup of patients may get scanned more than once. For example to tease out the effects of medications, unmedicated patients may get scanned while unmedicated and again after treatment with antipsychotic medications. Similarly prodromes may get scanned while in the prodromal stage off medications, on medications and after conversion to schizophrenia. Read Less

The proposed research will test the hypothesis that objective social isolation and loneliness are linked to neurobehavioral mechanisms involved in social perception and motivation in individuals with and without serious mental illness. Moreover, it will investigate the specific dynamic interactions among these experiences in daily life and how they, and their neurobehavioral predictors, are linked to day-to-day functioning. The findings of this project could provide novel targets for therapeutics aimed at improving functioning and overall quality of life in individuals with serious mental illnesses, as well as quantitative phenotypes for use in early detection efforts. Read Less

This is a single-site, sham-controlled, randomized trial in a total of 60 subjects between ages 18 and 40 years with schizophrenia. This study will investigate the effects of 4-week rTMS treatment on brain and cognitive functions in patients. Subjects will be randomized to one of the following arms: Arm 1: Standard of Care (SOC) and active rTMS Arm 2: Standard of Care (SOC) and sham rTMS Each participant will receive rTMS five days per week, for four consecutive weeks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, clinical assessments, and cognitive tests will be performed at baseline, end of the 2nd week, and end of the 4th week. Read Less