Brains on brains: Exciting new advances from the best minds in research
You’d expect neuroscientist Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, PhD, to go deep when talking about her research in mental health. And she’s happy to get right down to the neurons and synapses. But what excites her most is the big picture: how her research, and that of more than 40 others at Huntsman Mental ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ Institute, is accelerating treatments for people with debilitating depression, substance use disorder, and other mental health conditions.
Yurgelun-Todd is Vice Chair of Research at Huntsman Mental ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ Institute and a nationally recognized leader1 in the neuroscience of mental health. She studies brain activity as it relates to behavior, using exciting new technologies that allow her team to gain a deeper understanding of our brains to develop essential new interventions and treatments.
We sat down with Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, PhD to chat about the next frontier of brain research—and what’s already happening today.
Breakthroughs in mental health research over the years have been few and far between. What do you attribute that to?
Initially, there wasn’t much recognition of the science of mental health. There was a general sense that if you just tried hard enough, you could get yourself healthy—and we didn’t need to study this because it was a matter of will. Second, there was a lot of stigma.
Even within the field?
As a researcher, you didn’t want to be seen as supportive of mental health. Sources of funding weren’t as great as they were for other medical illnesses. So together, those two forces held the field back.
How is your team changing that? And where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation?
When we open the Utah Mental ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ Translational Research building in 2026,2 it’s going to be a core example of what innovation can do in terms of understanding, treating, and advancing mental health. The building brings all disciplines together in one space that’s been designed for interaction, collaboration, and the sharing of ideas between research groups. It will have meeting spaces along with wet and dry labs and will take a whole-life approach from youth through adulthood in all disciplines. That’s never been done before.
One of the important and really innovative aspects of the building is that it will be a place to address genetics,3 the cultural environment, media, public policy, and the impact on the community. We’ll look at brain imaging and other technologies that are being developed for new treatments. We’ll explore different types of interventions with all the new technology we will have. And we’ll apply AI and big data analysis tools.
What new research are you most excited about?
That’s a hard question. We have some exciting work going on with treatment-resistant depression and substance use disorder through a Wellcome Leap grant.4 It’s a collaboration with bioengineering that’s using a new technology—high-intensity focused ultrasound— to alter brain tissue, mood regulation, and reward circuitry. It’s a very important and innovative approach. It can take us away from just using medications to a technology we can use for other purposes as well. We also have several ongoing research projects by our team showing exciting potential. The HOPE trial5 and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development6 study are two examples.
What do people misunderstand about brain research and mental health?
It ranges from even well-educated people thinking you can just pull yourself out of depression as if it were a matter of will to others who don’t understand the impact of sleep, healthy eating, community friendships, or the early symptoms of mental illness.
What research breakthroughs do you hope to see in your lifetime?
I’m very enthusiastic about prevention, and I expect to see advancements there. We’re already starting to see some progress—along with the potential for earlier intervention and identification of risk.
We also have exciting opportunities with the technology for data analysis and looking at the complexities of factors related to health as you go forward in life. Also, for making earlier discoveries that translate to identifying symptoms, syndromes, and behaviors— and ultimately new treatments.
