APA Daily Bulletin - Day 1, 2008 - (Page 3) may 3-4, 2008 The Daily Bulletin 3 saturday / sunday researcher ProFile Prominent scientist will share his expertise from 40 years of studying the brain Beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, annual meeting attendees will be able to get first-hand insights into some of the major discoveries regarding the basic sciences of the brain from renowned researcher Solomon Snyder, M.D. Dr. Snyder, whose research efforts involve efforts to manipulate D-serine machinery through pharmaceuticals, will present “Neurotransmitters, Drugs and the Brain: Historical Perspectives.” This talk is largely tied to a book published by the American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. called “Science of Psychiatry,”which is a collection of Dr. Snyder’s key publications from the past 40 years with commentary from other prominent psychiatric experts. “This book is a perspective of 40 years of discoveries showing how our knowledge of neurotransmitters has evolved,” Dr. Snyder said. Because the average psychiatrist in practice does not often delve into molecular aspects of brain function, he said he hopes to share his experiences and review some of the latest advances in the study of drugs and neurotransmitters. “I’ll walk attendees through some of the major discoveries from our own and other labs that have had a direct impact on the understanding of how drugs work and provide insights into major mental illnesses,” Dr. Snyder said. “The audience should come away with an improved understanding of how drugs act and how the brain works.” Currently, Dr. Snyder is working on model neurotransmitters. “One of the most fascinating molecules with psychiatric relevance is the D-isomer of the amino acid serine,” he said. “In animals we only have D-sugars and L-amino acids, and that’s the way mammalian biochemistry was thought to work until the discovery a little more than 10 years ago that there is one major D-amino acid in mammals — D-serine.” Dr. Snyder developed antibodies and other tools to investigate D-serine, establishing it as a major neurotransmitter. “The principal neurotransmitter in the brain is the amino acid glutamate, whose principal target is the NMDA receptor,” Dr. Snyder said. “It was known that glutamate alone couldn’t activate it. You needed something else, which was originally thought to be glycine. While glycine plays this role in some instances, for the most part D-serine is that something else. Psychiatric relevance of the NMDA receptor stems from the fact that drugs that block that NMDA receptor — like PCP — cause a psychosis that is clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia. “If you mimic schizophrenia by blocking NMDA receptors, and you can activate those receptors with D-serine, why not give schizophrenics D-serine and see if it might be good for them? And it is. Before the revelation that D-serine is a physiologic transmitter, it was administered to schizophrenics with beneficial results.” Dr. Snyder went on to discover an enzyme called serine racemase, which converts L-serine to D-serine, and he cloned the gene for that enzyme. Then, working together with Joseph Coyle, M.D., at Harvard Medical School, he studied mice in which the gene for serine racemase had been knocked out, allowing the team to learn more about the function of D-serine in the brain and how it might be relevant to schizophrenia. This research, which is not yet published, is helping Dr. Snyder work on drugs to will ma- Solomon Snyder, M.D. nipulate the D-serine machinery, which might be therapeutic. Dr. Snyder is presently Distinguished Service Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. 2008 APPI Bookstore The 2008 APPI Bookstore has over 400 titles that can help you grow professionally and increase your knowledge of psychiatric issues. APPI’s wide variety of topics allows you to select titles you’ve always wanted and add to your series collections. APPI Bookstore Hours Monday 10:00am–5:00pm • Tuesday 10:00am–5:00pm • Wednesday 10:00am–3:00pm Lecture Details Neurotransmitters, Drugs and the Brain: Historical Perspectives Solomon Snyder, M.D. Monday, May 5, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Room 146AB, Level One, Washington Convention Center Ishmael Beah, Melvin Sabshin, M.D., Solomon H. Synder, M.D., and Oliver Sacks to Sign Books in APPI Bookstore Today! Focus live � 11:30am – 12:30pm Ishmael Beah A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Melvin Sabshin, M.D. Changing American Psychiatry: A Personal Perspective Solomon H. Snyder, M.D. Science and Psychiatry: Groundbreaking Discoveries in Molecular Neuroscience Oliver Sacks Musciophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain � 1:00pm – 2:00pm � 1:00pm – 2:00pm � 2:15pm – 3:30pm New Resources Added to DSM-IV-TR® at PsychiatryOnline.com Visit the APPI Bookstore for a demo of PsychiatryOnline.com, our powerful website that features DSM-IV-TR® as the cornerstone of an unsurpassed collection of psychiatric references, including books, journals, and self-assessment tools. The site includes more of our best-selling references! Plus much more Subscribe during the APA Annual Meeting and receive a 10% DISCOUNT. Visit www.PsychiatryOnline.com and use APA2008 in the Discount Code and Priority Code boxes during checkout. In Monday’s Focus Live! Sessions, participants can test their knowledge in three important areas: major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The 90-minute sessions begin at 9:00 a.m. and continue until 3:30 p.m. in Room 103A/B on Level 1 of the convention center. The sessions use an interactive, multiple-choice question format to test physicians’ knowledge of the subject matter. The Audience Response System will post collective results on screen instantly, so attendees can see how their knowledge compares with their peers. Moderators Deborah Hales, M.D., and Mark H. Rapaport, M.D., are editors of Focus: The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry. The sessions also include discussion from expert clinicians in each area. At 9:00 a.m., Charles Nemeroff, M.D., will pose questions on major depressive disorder and lead a discussion. Depression accounts for more disability than any other disorder worldwide. It increases individuals’ risk of suicide and is responsible for poor treatment response in patients with Experts help physicians test their knowledge cardiovascular disease. Physicians will learn the most recent information about diagnosing and treating this disorder, including a discussion of available pharmacologic treatments. At 11:00 a.m., Peter Buckley, M.D., will lead the session on schizophrenia. The session will address diagnosis and development of a treatment plan, with the goal of reducing symptoms and maximizing quality of life. Dr. Buckley will also address treatment adherence, antipsychotic medications, psychosocial treatments, and sideeffect management strategies. The session on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) begins at 2:00 p.m. Clinician John Greist, M.D., will lead discussion of OCD, including patients who hide their OCD, the nuances of obsessions, compulsions and rituals, and treatment with SRIs and cognitive behavioral therapy. The questions are board-style and are designed to help physicians identify areas where they may need further study, while learning in an entertaining format. The topics chosen were some of those most often discussed in the Focus Journal. http://PsychiatryOnline.com http://www.PsychiatryOnline.com http://www.PsychiatryOnline.com
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