Mary-Ellen Lynall

Interests

I am a psychiatrist investigating the neuroimmunology of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) with Prof Ed Bullmore and Dr Menna Clatworthy. There is an increasing appreciation that interactions between the immune system and the brain are clinically important. Animals and humans exposed to inflammation demonstrate sickness behaviours that are similar to clinical features of depression. Some patients with depression – especially those who do not respond to conventional treatments – show immune abnormalities, which include increased peripheral blood expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase reactants, but the cellular source of these abnormalities is unclear.

My research aims to develop a cell-subset specific biomarker of inflammation in TRD, with a larger effect-size than current whole-blood markers, using cytometry, sorted cell transcriptomics, and single cell RNAseq. The ultimate goal is to develop biomarker-stratified treatment strategies for patients with depression.

Research Focus

Equipment

Cross-sectional and cohort studies

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Transcriptomics; flow cytometry