• 6/20/2007
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Kathleen Armstrong
  • MLWMagazine.com

A blood test designed to diagnose mental health illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia took centre stage at the recent 2007 Medical Futures Innovation Awards, winning the overall award for the mental health and neurosciences category.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Sabine Bahn and Professor Chris Lowe accepted the award on behalf of their research team at the Institute of Biotechnology at Cambridge for the Psynova – Blood Test for Mental Illness, which uses novel biomarkers to identify those who are predisposed to mental illness, well before they present with symptoms.

Bahn and Lowe established Psynova Neurotech in 2005 as a vehicle to commercially develop and exploit novel biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders. Working closely with the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research (CCNR) and the Institute of Biotechnology (IOB), they have put together a database of comprehensive data on biomarkers specific to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The overall award for cancer innovation went to Dr Nicholas Coleman, a scientist from Cambridge whose team of researchers has identified a novel marker that is present in cancer cells but not in normal cells. They believe their new system will pick up certain cancers – such as cervical, bowel or lung cancer – earlier and more accurately.

Coleman and his team have undertaken a series of academic studies to clinically validate MCM (minichromosone maintenance proteins) testing as a method for identifying cancer and precancer, mainly relating to cervical smears. Further clinical validation studies will look at its application for bowel, lung and mouth cancer. The test could be widely available within the next two years.