Rebecca Brachman: Could a drug prevent depression and PTSD?
Rebecca Brachman: Pode un fármaco previr a depresión e o estrés postraumático?
Rebecca Brachman is a pioneer in the field of preventative psychopharmacology, developing drugs to enhance stress resilience and prevent mental illness. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
in the late 1800s,
a finais do século XIX,
what was causing this disease.
estaba a causar esta enfermidade.
that made you susceptible.
nos facía susceptibles.
it gave you heightened sensitivity
a unha maior sensibilidade
that tuberculosis was caused
bacterial infection,
moi contaxiosa,
develop drugs to treat it.
crear medicinas para tratala.
a new drug, iproniazid,
a iproniacida,
might cure tuberculosis,
de curar a tuberculose;
they were "dancing in the halls."
eles estaban a "bailar polos corredores".
because they were getting better.
que estivesen mellorando.
as being "inappropriately happy."
"indebidamente felices".
antidepressant was discovered.
o primeiro antidepresivo.
is not uncommon in science,
non son raros na ciencia,
than just a happy accident.
ca un feliz accidente.
for discovery to occur.
para poder descubrilo.
I'm going to talk to you a little bit
the opposite of dumb luck --
ao contrario do puro azar,
and we can actually now cure tuberculosis.
e agora podemos curar a tuberculose.
though not necessarily in other countries,
que non necesariamente noutros países
are not too worried about TB.
non vos preocupe moito a tuberculose.
in the early 1900s
a principios do século XX.
about psychiatric disorders.
dos trastornos psíquicos.
of an epidemic of mood disorders
de trastornos emocionais
stress disorder, or PTSD.
ou o estrés postraumático.
in the United States
experienced it personally
se non a viviches en persoa
that someone you know has,
que a teña alguén que coñezas,
of disability worldwide.
de discapacidade no mundo.
that was making people manic,
que estaba volvendo maníaca á xente,
ward and the antihistamine,
e mais no do antiestamínico,
to do one thing --
para facer unha cousa,
or suppress allergies --
ou suprimir alerxias--
something very different --
is actually quite challenging.
é bastante estimulante.
this mood-enhancing effect of iproniazid,
como a iproniacida melloraba o ánimo,
what they saw.
of being a tuberculosis drug
para a tuberculose
un efecto secundario negativo.
are experiencing severe euphoria.
estaban experimentando euforia extrema.
that this might somehow interfere
podería interferir dalgún xeito
only be used in cases of extreme TB
se empregase só en tuberculoses extremas
highly emotionally stable,
moi estables emocionalmente,
of how we use it as an antidepressant.
a como se emprega un antidepresivo.
from the perspective of this one disease,
dende a perspectiva dunha soa doenza
for another disease.
para outra distinta.
it's not entirely their fault.
is a bias that affects all of us.
un prexuízo que nos afecta a todos.
be able to think of an object
use or function.
pretty hard for all of us,
facer ese redeseño,
a TV show to the guy who was,
un programa de TV a un tipo
of iproniazid and imipramine,
da iproniacida e da imipramina
ou persoas bailando polos corredores.
or people dancing in the halls.
they were caught.
what else we've missed.
qué máis pasamos por alto.
a case study in repurposing.
that are really important.
moi importantes.
increase levels of serotonin,
os niveis de serotonina,
right, one or the two,
--cada unha delas,
desenvolver fármacos máis seguros,
that we had to develop safer drugs,
like a pretty good place to start.
un bo sitio para comezar.
to more specifically focus on serotonin,
que se centrasen máis na serotonina,
reuptake inhibitors, so the SSRIs,
de recaptación da serotonina (ISRS),
just worked on optimizing those drugs.
en mellorar eses fármacos.
than the drugs that came before them,
que había antes ,
moitos efectos secundarios:
in a lot of patients.
en moitos pacientes.
where they do work.
aos que estes fármacos non lles funcionan.
where these drugs don't work.
for any mood disorders,
para ningún trastorno emocional,
taking a painkiller for an infection
tomamos un analxésico
para tratar a enfermidade subxacente.
to treat that underlying disease.
in our thinking
no noso pensamento
that iproniazid and imipramine
que a iproniacida e a imipramina
this is a dramatization.
isto é unha dramatización.
and remove our bias, right,
intentamos eliminar os prexuízos
as to what our results will be.
sobre os resultados que podemos atopar.
in what we choose to study
naquilo que decidimos estudar
for the past 30 years,
centrámonos na serotonina,
isn't all there is to depression?
o único factor da depresión?
o que probablemente é
doctors have discovered
antidepressant since the SSRIs,
inhibidores de recaptación da serotonina,
within a few hours or a day,
nunhas poucas horas ou un día,
which is another neurotransmitter.
as anesthesia in surgery.
coma anestesia en operacións.
was an antidepressant,
a better antidepressant,
un antidepresivo mellor
that it's a better antidepressant
por ser un antidepresivo mellor
que amosase os seus efectos.
as an antidepressant in mice.
como un antidepresivo en ratos.
a really short half-life,
within a few hours.
só unhas poucas horas.
another experiment to save money.
para poder aforrar cartos.
como un modelo de depresión.
like it didn't really work at all.
que non funcionaba en absoluto.
of depression for years,
durante moitos anos,
that one injection of Calypsol
unha inxección de Calipsol
is actually the measure of them walking.
que á a medida do que camiñan.
another mouse in a pencil cup
nun gobelete
in case that's not clear.
por se non está claro.
in this depression model,
neste modelo de depresión,
in that back corner, behind a cup.
nesa esquina, detrás do gobelete.
that one injection of Calypsol,
a inxección de Calipsol,
had never been stressed at all,
estiveran estresados,
Calypsol before as anesthesia,
Calipsol como anestesia,
estraños nas células
some weird effects on cells
long after the drug,
moito despois de tomar o fármaco,
when you're not sure,
cando un non está seguro:
to test them,
para analizalos,
on the floor with the computer in her lap
co ordenador no colo
the data in real time.
en tempo real.
in an animal room where you're testing,
con animais que estás analizando,
were protected against stress,
estivesen protexidos contra o estrés,
however you want to call it.
coma lle queirades chamar.
because it was too good to be true.
porque era demasiado bo para ser certo.
de estrés postraumático,
in a physiological model,
halfway across the world in France run it.
do outro lado do mundo, en Francia.
they confirmed the same thing.
confirmábanos o mesmo.
this one injection of Calypsol
against stress for weeks.
do estrés durante semanas.
have independently confirmed this effect.
confirmaron este efecto independentemente.
is the initial trigger
son doenzas distintas,
are different diseases,
they share in common.
ou unha agresión sexual
stress disorder,
trastorno por estrés postraumático,
develops a mood disorder.
desenvolve un trastorno emocional.
stress and be resilient
sentir estrés e resistilo
depression or PTSD
depresión ou estrés postraumático
as just sort of this passive property.
dun tipo de capacidade pasiva.
para estes trastornos.
the first resilience-enhancing drug.
fármaco que mellora a resistencia.
unha pequena cantidade de fármaco
a tiny amount of the drug,
you see with antidepressants.
ao que vemos cos antidepresivos.
to what you see in immune vaccines.
you'll get your shots,
that protects you.
quen te protexe,
to this bacteria that fights it off,
contra esta bacteria e pode combatela,
from, say, our treatments. Right?
a tratar a infección, non si?
you're exposed to the bacteria,
colles a infección, exposte á bacteria,
say, an antibiotic which cures it,
tomas un antibiótico que a cura,
to kill the bacteria.
para eliminar a bacteria.
dos fármacos paliativos,
with this palliative,
that will suppress the symptoms,
the underlying infection,
during the time in which you're taking it,
mentres esteas tomando o fármaco,
e o estrés postraumático
have to keep taking them
hai que seguir tomándoos
the length of your own life.
drugs "paravaccines,"
que melloran a resistencia “paravacinas”,
like they might have the potential
stress disorder.
are also paravaccines.
son paravacinas.
like depression and PTSD.
ou o estrés postraumático.
and firefighters,
de primeiros auxilios e bombeiros,
e funcionarios de prisións,
of the scale of these diseases,
deste tipo de enfermidades,
and is therefore expected to rise
polo que se prevé que medre
in just the next 15 years.
só nos próximos 15 anos.
because of our prior biases.
por causa dos nosos nesgos previos.
as an anesthetic.
como anestésico.
We use it on the battlefield.
Empregámola nos campos de batalla.
in a lot of developing nations,
en moitos países en desenvolvemento
list of most essential medicines.
da Organización Mundial da Saúde.
as a paravaccine first,
primeiro com unha paravacina,
with our functional fixedness
contra a fixación funcional
the only compound we have discovered
o único composto que descubrimos
paravaccine qualities,
profilácticas e paravacinais,
we've discovered,
son totalmente novos,
they're totally new,
the entire FDA approval process --
de aceptación da FDA
they can ever be used in humans.
of the price and a fraction of the time.
pola metade de prezo e de tempo.
functional fixedness and mental set,
e o construto mental,
to repurposing drugs,
o redeseño de fármacos:
and no longer exclusive
e non existe unha exclusividade--
to develop them,
a desenvolvelos,
That is true for all drugs.
Éo para todos os fármacos.
is completely novel in psychiatry,
é totalmente novidosa en psiquiatría,
enfermidades mentais
100 years from now,
at depression and PTSD
e o estrés postraumático
at tuberculosis sanitoriums
os sanatorios de tuberculosos,
of the mental health epidemic.
dunha epidemia de saúde mental.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rebecca Brachman - Neuroscientist, writer, entrepreneurRebecca Brachman is a pioneer in the field of preventative psychopharmacology, developing drugs to enhance stress resilience and prevent mental illness.
Why you should listen
Current treatments for mood disorders only suppress symptoms without addressing the underlying disease, and there are no known cures. The drugs Rebecca Brachman is developing would be the first to prevent psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.
Brachman completed her PhD at Columbia University, prior to which she was a fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where she discovered that immune cells carry a memory of psychological stress and that white blood cells can act as antidepressants and resilience-enhancers. Brachman's research has been featured in The Atlantic, WIRED and Business Insider, and her work was recently described by Dr. George Slavich on NPR as a "moonshot project that is very much needed in the mental health arena."
In addition to conducting ongoing research at Columbia, Brachman is an NYCEDC Entrepreneurship Lab Fellow and cofounder of Paravax -- a biotech startup developing vaccine-like prophylactic drugs ("paravaccines") -- along with her scientific collaborator, Christine Ann Denny. She is also working on a non-profit venture to repurpose existing generic drugs for use as prophylactics, and previously served as the Interim Program Director for Outreach at the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University.
Brachman is also a playwright and screenwriter. She holds Bachelor's degrees in both neuroscience and creative wWriting, and she is currently working on a tech-focused writing project with her long-time writing partner, Sean Calder ("Grimm," "Damages," "ER"). She served as the director of NeuWrite, a national network of science-writing groups that fosters ongoing collaboration between scientists, writers and artists, and she has been featured as a storyteller at The Story Collider.
(Photo: Kenneth Willardt)
Rebecca Brachman | Speaker | TED.com