Getting help for depression can be like purgatory. Setting aside for a moment the stigma and other barriers to seeking treatment in the first place, finding the right combination of medication and/or therapy can be a months- or years-long process of trial and error. And for about one third of people, nothing seems to work.

Today we're talking with Dr. Leanne Williams, the founding director of the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness and Vincent V.C. Woo Professor in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Williams and her team have recently used brain imaging and machine learning techniques to identify six distinct "biotypes" of depression — each of which may require a different approach to treatment. Beyond setting the stage for more targeted therapies, better understanding the biology behind the disease could finally cut through the stigma of one of the world's most common brain disorders.

Learn more

• Williams' Personalized and Translational Neuroscience Lab (PANlab)
• The Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness
• NEW: Cognitive behavioral therapy enhances brain circuits to relieve depression (Stanford Medicine, 2024)
• Six distinct types of depression identified in Stanford Medicine-led study
  (Stanford Medicine, 2024)
  • Personalized brain circuit scores identify clinically distinct biotypes in depression and anxiety (Nature Medicine, 2024)
• Brain scans could help personalize treatment for people who are depressed or suicidal (Science, 2022)
• Williams' scientific publications
  
  

Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Art by Aimee Garza.

Send us a text!

Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.

Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Today, we're talking with Stanford neuro-oncologist, Michelle Monje. This is actually the third time we've had Michelle on the show, in part because she's been a pioneer of three exciting frontiers in neuroscience — so far!

This week, we're going to talk about cancer neuroscience. Michelle founded this new field with her discovery that deadly brain tumors not only link up physically with the healthy brain tissue surrounding them, but the cancers actually need the brain's electrical activity to grow and spread.

It turns out that many cancers — not only in the brain — depend on nervous system innervation for their survival. Understanding this dependent relationship better may present an exciting new line of attack for oncology.

Join us to learn more!

News coverage

• Brain tumors caused by normal neuron activity in mice predisposed to such tumors
• Brain tumors form synapses with healthy neurons, Stanford-led study finds
• Deadly brain cancers act like 'vampires' by hijacking normal cells to grow
• Engineered immune cells target broad range of pediatric solid tumors in mice

Relevant Publications

• Glioma synapses recruit mechanisms of adaptive plasticity
• Glioblastoma remodelling of human neural circuits decreases survival
• Electrical and synaptic integration of glioma into neural circuits
• Targeting neuronal activity-regulated neuroligin-3 dependency in high-grade glioma
• Neuronal Activity Promotes Glioma Growth through Neuroligin-3 Secretion

Review Articles

• The neuroscience of cancer
• Cancer hallmarks intersect with neuroscience in the tumor microenvironment
• Roadmap for the Emerging Field of Cancer Neuroscience

Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Art by Aimee Garza.

Send us a text!

Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.

Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This week on From Our Neurons to Yours, we're talking about using new techniques for growing human brain tissue in the lab to solve a rare neurological disorder.

Host Nicholas Weiler sits down with Sergiu Pasca an innovative Stanford scientist who has developed groundbreaking technologies to grow human brain tissue in the lab, creating "organoids" and "assembloids" that model brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

Pasca describes the process of turning patient skin cells into embryo-like stem cells and then into functional brain cells that can live and develop for over two years, and even be transplanted into rat brains to study their growth and development.

It may sound like science fiction, but these techniques represent a major step toward understanding and treating complex neurological conditions such as Timothy syndrome, a rare genetic disorder whose biology Pasca has spent the past 15 years unraveling.

Join us for fascinating glimpse into the future of developmental neuroscience and potential for new therapies for our remarkable self-assembling brains.

Learn more

• Brain organoids and assembloids are new models for elucidating, treating neurodevelopmental disorders | News Center | Stanford Medicine
• Impact of genes linked to neurodevelopmental diseases found | News Center | Stanford Medicine
• Scientists discover how dozens of genes may contribute to autism - The Washington Post
• Study suggests approach for treating rare disorder | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• How lab-grown brain cells can now help us understand brain disorders

Episode Credits
This episode was produced by Michael Osborne, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker, and hosted by Nicholas Weiler. Art by Aimee Garza.

Send us a text!

Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.

Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.