IDBS powers mental health platform

The National Centre for Mental Health in Wales has partnered with IDBS to create a data management platform that will be used to improve understanding of mental health genetics and treatment.

The centre, which is hosted by Cardiff University, has established the Wales Mental Health Network that is recruiting 6,000 volunteers over the next two years and will capture more than 300 clinical attributes for each person, including their medical history, family history, medication and therapy.

The installation of IDBS’ ‘enterprise translational medicine solution’ platform will integrate clinical, biobanking and genetic data, providing a data management and analytics system for this and future studies.

The platform will unify patient, sample and genetic results ensuring consistent analysis across the varied and complex data sets involved.

The organisations believe the system will provide clinicians and research scientists with a greater understanding of the potential causes and triggers of mental health disorders. It is also set to include access to 3,000 historical records.

Professor Nicolas Craddock, director of the centre said: “The idea is that people won’t be signing up to take part in one study, but joining a network of people whose aim is to progress knowledge in mental health. We will be carrying out a range of studies over the next few years, including looking at genetics and identifying genes that may influence or trigger illness, imaging studies and outcomes studies.

“IDBS is key to this project, providing the rigorous and well proven data management platform needed to combine and interpret the complex, disparate data sets we work with.”

The focus of the studies will be on a wide range of mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, dementia, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.