Improving PTSD Care for Military Personnel

Advancing Precision Psychiatry for Military Service-Related PTSD by Enhancing Knowledge of Clinical Subtypes and their Endophenotypes

Dr. Bernie Daigle, associate professor in Biological Sciences, was awarded funding from the Department of Defense (as a subaward from New York University (NYU)) for his project "Advancing Precision Psychiatry for Military Service-Related PTSD by Enhancing Knowledge of Clinical Subtypes and Their Endophenotypes.” Led by PI Charles Marmar at NYU, Daigle is working alongside collaborators at NYU, Harvard University, the University of California San Francisco, Brown University, the Institute for Systems Biology, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

This funding will support ongoing efforts in the Daigle Lab to identify molecular and neural circuit biomarkers for the diagnosis and characterization of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a debilitating condition which develops in some individuals following trauma exposure, often causing flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. It is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, with a lifetime occurrence rate of 6-7% in the United States. In addition to its primary effects, PTSD is often linked to comorbidities such as substance abuse and severe depression. Despite the availability of both psychotherapy- and medication-based treatments, nearly two-thirds of service members and veterans with military service-related PTSD retain their diagnosis after treatment. A major contributor to these poor outcomes is the considerable variability in the clinical presentation and biology of those suffering from PTSD.

To improve these outcomes, the Daigle Lab and collaborators will work to advance personalized psychiatry by discovering clinical subtypes of PTSD and linking these to their underlying biology. Members of the Daigle Lab will develop and apply sophisticated statistical and machine learning tools to gain a deep understanding of how individual differences in brain chemistry and circuitry relate to differences in clinical symptoms. These insights will guide clinicians to select the most effective PTSD treatments and help identify novel targets for next-generation treatments.

For more information, contact Daigle at bjdaigle@memphis.edu.