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ENABLE
ENABLE (Enabling Neuroscience Research Approaches for Brain, Feelings and Emotions) is a Canada wide master research platform that will connect clinicians with patients interested in participating in clinical trials on mood disorders. The research platform will collect standardized biomarker data (ex. genes, proteins, brain images) from patients across the entire range of mood disorders and will help us innovate treatments for depression
Why is there a need for ENABLE?
One in five Canadians experience mental illness annually
To advance understanding of these disorders and their treatments, clinical research plays a crucial role.... this is where ENABLE comes in
The ENABLE platform aims to transform mood disorder research by recruiting a diverse group of participants that better reflects the wide range of real-world experiences with mood disorders, including common co-occurring mental health conditions. By capturing this diversity, ENABLE seeks to improve our understanding of mood disorders and advance more personalized approaches to care.
The platform has three primary objectives:
ENABLE aims to offer standardized data collection methods to better understand the clinical, mental health, and biological characteristics of people living with mood disorders.
The ENABLE platform will provide researchers with open-source clinical and neurobiological data to advance the field of mood disorder research and open new avenues of collaboration and discovery.
Participants who join ENABLE will become part of a research participant pool, allowing them to be contacted about future studies that may be a good fit. Based on the information collected through the platform, participants can choose to be contacted about research opportunities that may be relevant or beneficial to them.
The overarching goal is to develop a national, standardized master clinical trial platform for data collection and sharing.
What does participation involve?
Eligible participants will be asked to come in for two data collection sessions...
First visit (TIER 1)
This visit includes an interview and self-report questionnaires
Second visit (TIER 2)
The second session is optional and will involve blood collection, physical activity and sleep tracking, an MRI, an EEG, cognitive testing, and some additional self-report questionnaires.
Some visits may be conducted remotely, while in-person data collection will be held at the DCRP in Halifax (in the Abbie J Lane building of the QEII, 5909 Veterans' Memorial Lane).
Who is eligible?
Ages 16+
Experienced some form of depression or bipolar disorder throughout ones lifetime
Able to attend in person appointments in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Certain additional criteria must be met, Participants will be screened to ensure eligibility is met before data collection commences.
ENABLE is part of the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (CANBIND). You can read more about CANBIND here. ENABLE is funded by the Ontario Brain Institute.