Dr. Abhishek Cukkemane 

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychotic disorder (PDs) and has been known to share genetic vulnerability to bipolar disorders, major depressive disorders and autism. These represent neurodevelopmental disorder that do not manifest until decades usually during the onset of adolescence and are accompanied with significant comorbidity. With an incidence of 1%, schizophrenia represents a major social and economic burden. Taken together with related PDs, the lifetime rate increases to 2.3 to 3.5%.

A recent population based meta-analysis conducted by NIMH-NIH, USA; Schizophrenia represents among the 15 leading causes of disability globally. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the biochemical basis for the disorder and thereby explore new diagnostic approaches to aid psychiatrists in the evaluation, save time and effort for all stake holders.

In a collaborative effort with the department of psychiatry, University of Oldenburg; We are employing magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to identify relevant biochemical and their pathways from fluid samples from patients to understand schizophrenia pathology. The prerogative of this proposal is to facilitate a marriage between traditional psychopathological diagnosis with modern OMICS technology namely, metabolomics. In parallel, using digital technologies of big-data analytics and machine-learning approaches, we are investigating the possibility of a biochemical diagnostic approach to the disorder, which is highly desirable.