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Huntsman Mental Health Institute

Mickey Lab

About Our Research

The Mickey Lab, led by principal investigator Brian Mickey, MD, PhD, is using brain stimulation and brain imaging to understand the circuits that underlie neuropsychiatric illnesses.

Circuit-targeted interventions for psychiatric disorders

Limbic and frontal brain circuits underpin everyday experiences like mood, motivation, pleasure, and misery. Malfunction of those circuits causes psychiatric problems including depression, anxiety, and addiction. 

Our overall objectives are to understand how these neural circuits are dysregulated and to develop novel, circuit-targeted interventions that return the brain to a healthy state.

Learn more about our research

Project 1

Noninvasive Modulation of Deep Brain Circuits for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Our team has recently developed an MRI-compatible ultrasonic neuromodulation device that can noninvasively stimulate deep brain circuits in humans with high precision. This project is applying this novel approach to modulate the subcallosal cingulate cortex in individuals with treatment-resistant depression.

Sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Project 2

Ultrasonic Neuromodulation for Individuals Using Opioids for Chronic Pain

This project is evaluating a new kind of noninvasive brain stimulation intervention that might be useful for preventing opioid use disorder. Individuals with chronic pain receive low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound delivered to deep brain circuits.

Sponsored by the Wellcome Trust

Project 3

TRANSCEND: Treatment Resistant Depression Subcallosal Cingulate Network DBS

This clinical trial is evaluating the efficacy of tractography-guided deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy for highly treatment-resistant depression.

Sponsored by Abbott

Project 4

REaKT-SD: Rapid Reversal of Suicidal Depression: Comparative Effectiveness of ECT vs. Ketamine over the Lifespan

This randomized trial is comparing the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy versus intravenous ketamine therapy for acute suicidal depression.

Sponsored by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Project 5

RECOVER: A PRospective, Multi-cEnter, Randomized Controlled Blinded Trial DemOnstrating the Safety and Effectiveness of VNS Therapy® System as AdjunctivE Therapy Versus a No-Stimulation Control in Subjects With Treatment-Resistant Depression

The objective of this study is to determine whether vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy improves health outcomes for individuals with treatment resistant depression.

Sponsored by LivaNova

Project 6

Genetics at an Extreme: An Efficient Genomic Study of Individuals with Clinically Severe Major Depression Receiving ECT

This project brings together investigators from around the world to carry out a genetic study of patients with severe depression who are treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and other intensive treatments.

Sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

COLLABORATORS

Meet our research team

Principal Investigator

Brian J. Mickey, MD, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry

Dr. Mickey is board-certified in Psychiatry. His clinical focus is treatment-resistant mood disorders. He provides pharmacologic treatments and brain stimulation interventions in the Treatment Resistant Mood Disorders Clinic at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute.

Lab members

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Selected Publications

  • Franklin, Achtyes, Altinay, Bailey, Bhati, Carr, Conroy, Husain, Khurshid, Lencz, McDonald, Mickey BJ, Murrough, Nestor, Nickl-Jockschat, Nikayin, Reeves, Reti, Selek, Sanacora, Trapp, Viswanath, Wright, Sullivan, Zandi, Potash (2024). The Genetics of Severe Depression. Mol Psychiatry, in press.
  • Provenza NR, Reddy S, Allam A, Rajesh SV, Diab N, Reyes G, Caston RM, Katlowitz KA, Gandhi AD, Bechtold R, Dang HQ, Najera RA, Giridharan N, Kabotyanski K, Momin F, Hasen M, Banks GP, Mickey BJ, Kious BM, Shofty B, Hayden BY, Herron JA, Storch EA, Patel AB, Goodman WK, Sheth SA (2024). Disruption of neural periodicity predicts clinical response after deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Nat Med, in press.
  • Conway, Aaronson, Sackheim, Duffy, Stedman, Quevedo, Allen, Riva-Posse, Berger, Alva, Malik, Dunner, Cichowicz, Luing, Zajecka, Nahas, Mickey BJ, Kablinger, Kriedt, Bunker, Lee, Shy, Majewski, Olin, Tran, Rush (2024). Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Exposure of Patients with Marked Treatment-Resistant Unipolar Major Depressive Disorder: A RECOVER Trial Report. Brain Stimul, in press.
  • Riis TS, Feldman DA, Mickey BJ, Kubanek J (2024). Controlled noninvasive modulation of deep brain regions in humans. Communications Engineering, 3:13. doi: 10.1038/s44172-023-00146-4
  • Jones KG, Lybbert C, Euler MJ, Huang J, Lunt S, Richards SV, Jessop JE, Larson A, Odell DH, Kuck K, Tadler SC, Mickey BJ (2023). Diversity of electroencephalographic patterns during propofol-induced burst suppression. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 17:1172856. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2023.1172856
  • Riis T, Feldman D, Vonesh L, Brown J, Solzbacher D, Kubanek J, Mickey B (2023). Durable effects of deep brain ultrasonic neuromodulation on major depression: A case report. Journal of Medical Case Reports, 17(1):499. doi: 10.1186/s13256-023-04194-4
  • Silcox J, Mickey BJ, Payne BR (2023). Disruption to left inferior frontal cortex modulates semantic prediction effects in reading and subsequent memory: Evidence from simultaneous TMS-EEG. Psychophysiology, 60(9):e14312. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14312 
  • Mickey BJ, Ginsburg Y, Jensen E, Maixner DF (2022). Distinct predictors of short- versus long-term depression outcomes following electroconvulsive therapy. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 145:159. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.12.028

Contact

Brian Mickey, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator

brian.mickey@utah.edu