SNUH conducts $5.2 million depression study in Korean women

Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) said it received a research grant of about 7 billion won ($5.2 million) from the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to carry out the "KOMOGEN-D" project, a large-scale depression gene research for Korean women.

According to SNUH, the funding is the largest research grant in the NIMH’s history.

The six-year project, from 2021 to 2026, aims to find the causative genes of depression by collecting the genes and interview data of 10,000 Korean women with recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD).

Korea currently has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries. The leading cause of suicide is psychological problems, including MDD.

MDD is a serious disease that can lead to depression or low motivation, as well as various cognitive, mental, and physical disorders, which can make daily life impossible. Some MDD patients even take their lives.

"Considering the social impact of major depressive disorder, efforts to identify the cause are urgently needed," SNUH said. "However, even though Korea is a country with the highest rates of depression and suicides in the world, there have been few studies so far that reveal the genes that cause depression in Asians, especially Koreans."

Using the data gathered, the project aims to help predict the future course of depression and develop new treatments.

Professors Ahn Yong-min of the Department of Psychiatry at Seoul National University Hospital and Lee Sang-jin at the Institute of Biomedical Research will lead the project.

Also, 36 general hospitals nationwide, including 14 in Seoul, nine in Gyeonggi Province, six in Chungcheong and Gangwon Province, seven in Jeolla and Gyeongsang Province, as well as their cooperative hospitals and local mental health welfare centers, will participate in the KOMOGEN-D project.

Professor Ahn's team has recruited about 1,000 out of the 10,000 target patients so far.

"If the genetic cause of depression can be identified and the disease can be predicted through this very large study, it will be a key turning point