Ronald S. Duman is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology Director, Division of Molecular Psychiatry and Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

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Education

Duman received his Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in 1985 from the The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston was created by the UT System Board of Regents and supported by the Texas Legislature in 1972...

.

Career

Ron Duman's research centers around the biological mechanisms behind antidepressant

Antidepressant

An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder. According to Gelder, Mayou &*Geddes people with a depressive illness will experience a therapeutic effect to their mood;...

s. In his landmark 1995 paper, he discovered that antidepressants increase the gene expression

Gene expression

Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...

 of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or (BDNF) in the hippocampus

Hippocampus

The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in...

. In a later paper he discovered that the downstream effect of BDNF is to increase neurogenesis

Neurogenesis

Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem and progenitor cells. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons. Recently neurogenesis was shown to continue in several small parts of the brain of...

 or the formation of new neurons in the dentate gyrus

Dentate gyrus

The dentate gyrus is part of the hippocampal formation. It is thought to contribute to new memories as well as other functional roles. It is notable as being one of a select few brain structures currently known to have high rates of neurogenesis in adult rats, .The dentate gyrus cells receive...

 of the hippocampus)
.

The results of this work led him to formulate the hypothesis that depression

Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

 is caused by a decrease in hippocampal neurogenesis caused by elevated cortisol

Cortisol

Cortisol is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid, produced by the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and a low level of blood glucocorticoids. Its primary functions are to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat,...

levels.