Challenge 6: BADIPS: Generating human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) to study bipolar affective disorder

Budget: £1,000,000

A key issue in developing new treatments for bipolar affective disorder is the lack of valid animal models, despite the generation of a whole series of genetically altered animals. Current animal models have limited impact on the understanding of the disorder and do not predict clinical efficacy of novel treatment options. An alternative approach is the use of patient-derived cell models of brain diseases that are relevant and robust enough to produce the large quantities of cells required for molecular and functional analyses, including induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

Using iPS cells from patients with bipolar disorder as screening tools for the development of novel treatment options, it will be possible to reduce the dependence on animal models, improve the predictive validity of the assays, and possibly make some of the present in vivo testing obsolete.

The aim of this Challenge is to develop relevant phenotypical high throughput screens for the discovery of new treatments for bipolar affective disorder.