Quest for the holy grail of bipolar disorder: a better lithium

Join Dr Grant Churchill as he takes you on a journey of scientific discovery towards the ultimate goal to determine the therapeutic action of lithium, on the way showing how curiosity driven science can lead to unforeseen advances in applied science and the major role chance plays in successful research.

Lithium is by far the most effective mood-stabilizing drug for treating bipolar disorder (manic depression). Nevertheless, lithium has several disadvantages such as weight gain, thirst, excessive urination, and anecdotally, cloudy thinking and loss of creativity.

The unwanted side effects of lithium likely arise from lithium affecting targets inside the cell other than the therapeutic target, which is unknown and hotly debated. If we knew lithium’s therapeutic target, we could then design drugs that affect just this target. In this discourse, you will be taken on a journey of scientific discovery where the ultimate goal was to determine the therapeutic action of lithium and obtain a drug that would function as ‘a better lithium’ for the treatment of bipolar disorder. This journey will be presented as a narrative and in chronological order to illustrate how science is really done in a working lab, warts and all, rather than as the sanitized and retrospectively rationalized version often reported in scientific journals. Throughout this journey several themes will be highlighted including how research topics are chosen, the reciprocal synergy between research and teaching, how curiosity driven science can lead to unforeseen advances in applied science and the major role chance plays in successful research. Was the journey successful? Attend the discourse to find out.

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