Collaborations and Partnerships

Collaborating with an NIMH Investigator

Research collaborations with NIH can take many shapes. Many informal collaborations take place between intramural investigators (inside NIMH) and outside parties, including companies. Formal collaborations, which may involve co-authorship, transfer of material, confidential data, intellectual property, or licensing must be documented in writing. A research collaboration may be documented by the following: Cooperative Research and Development (CRADA), Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Clinical Trial Agreement, Intergovernmental Personnel Act agreement (IPA) or other appropriate written agreement. Outside parties can collaborate with the NIH to perform preclinical studies, or they can take advantage of the unique research opportunities available at the NIH Clinical Center.

You can learn more through the NIMH Office of Technology Transfer.

Current Collaborations

Dr. Robert Innis of the NIMH Section on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Neuroimaging Sciences is collaborating with Pfizer under a CRADA to evaluate 18F-PF-06445974, a novel PET radiotracer developed by the company, to image phosphodiesterase-4B (PDE4B) in human subjects. PDE4B is an enzyme that is highly expressed in neurons and other types of cells and may play important roles with regard to both cognitive function and inflammation. If the tracer can quantify PDE4B, it could be used in future studies to examine potential abnormalities in neuropsychiatric disorders and to facilitate use of a therapeutic drug acting at this target.

The Center for Collaborative Genomic Studies on Mental Disorders is a collaboration of Rutgers University RUCDR, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute. It is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. The NIMH collection now contains a vast array of samples from families with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder depression and ADHD. Many important discoveries have been made by investigators accessing these collections.

Opportunities for Psychiatric Drug Discovery Collaboration with the NIMH Intramural Research Program

Learn about the NIMH IRP Translational Neuropsychopharmacology Initiative.