The Big Experiment
Ever wondered how technology start-ups, well, start-up? For most founder entrepreneurs, it is the biggest experiment they'll ever run. Like most experiments, the result isn't known beforehand and it often doesn't work first time. On a bigger scale, how do big tech companies turn innovative science into profit?
Mark Davison interviews founder scientists, executives, investors, communicators, and others in the technology start-up and corporate science ecosystems.
Learn how great ideas turned into thriving businesses (or not) from those who made it happen (or didn't). Get business tips, lessons learned, and life lessons straight from the people who know.
Inspiring, disastrous, funny: hear what life in a science-driven company is really like.
Straight-talking, no nonsense, but conversational style. All technical content is explained for the non-specialist - you don't need a PhD or fluency in jargon and technobabble.
The Big Experiment
Jenny Barnett: New tests and drugs for schizophrenia
Can neuroscience finally catch up with the complexity of mental illness?
Society faces a huge and growing burden from mental illness and impairment. Schizophrenia, for example, is a bigger socioeconomic burden than all cancers put together.
We have medicines for some of these conditions, but typically they work well for some, not at all for many, and cause side-effects for others. One of medicine's greatest challenges has been identifying exactly which patients will benefit from a treatment before they even start their pills.
In this episode I am joined by Jenny Barnett, neuroscientist and CEO of Monument Therapeutics, to explore one of the most pressing challenges in modern medicine: how to develop truly effective treatments for complex, multi-factorial mental health conditions like schizophrenia and cognitive impairment.
Jenny shares the work they are doing on neuroscience drug development, revealing how Monument Therapeutics is using cognitive tests and precision psychiatry to target pharmaceutical treatments more effectively.
She explains why the current "one-size-fits-all" model of psychiatric medication is failing patients, and how a diagnostic-therapeutic approach could transform lives and health systems alike.
We discuss the state of funding for the research, clinical trial challenges and bottlenecks, and the urgent economic and social need for accessible mental health solutions.
Don't miss this fascinating glimpse into the next frontier of neuroscience.
“Schizophrenia costs society more than all cancers put together.” – Jenny Barnett
You’ll hear about:
● How digital biomarkers are revolutionising psychiatric drug development and patient selection
● Why current mental health medications only work for one-third of patients
● The groundbreaking computer-based tests that rats and humans can both perform
● How Monument Therapeutics is targeting cognitive impairment in schizophrenia patients
● The staggering economic impact of mental health disorders on society
● Why precision psychiatry could catch up neuroscience to cancer treatment advances
Connect with Jenny Barnett
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-barnett-4b035826/
Website - https://monumenttx.com/
Connect with me:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdavison100/
If you need any lab equipment:
Grant Instruments: https://www.grantinstruments.com/
Grant Instruments on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-instruments-cambridge-ltd/
