More than 1/3 of patients diagnosed with major depression do not respond to traditional antidepressant treatments, such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Recently, ketamine was approved for the treatment of those patients that did not improve after other antidepressant treatments.
During this online Science Café, Argel Aguilar-Valles, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience, explains that, despite its clinical promise, we are still trying to understand how ketamine works. He will share research demonstrating that ketamine activates the protein factory of the brain, especially in neurons and discuss how this knowledge can be used for the design of safer and equally effective drugs for the treatment of depression.
Explore science through Carleton University’s popular Science Cafés, now being held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We hope to resume our in-person Science Cafés in the future, generally held twice a month during the fall and winter terms at the Sunnyside Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. For now, you are invited to join us online for a lively discussion around a scientific issue of the day. Be prepared to be informed, engaged and even amused, as our professors share their scientific discoveries with you. All are welcome to join us via Zoom Webinar.
Visit the Science Café website for more information on upcoming online Science Cafés and to sign up for our newsletter, or contact the Faculty of Science by email at odscience@carleton.ca and by telephone at 613-520-4388.
Tuesday, December 22, 2020 in Community / Outreach, Event, General, Science Cafe
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