NPFUAM (Neuropsychopharmacology Application and Research Center)

In today's information and communication age, our knowledge about brain functions is still limited. As a result, important diseases and psychosocial problems directly related to brain functions such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, autism, depression and substance addiction cannot yet be radically treated with drugs.

In recent years, more resources have been allocated to scientific research and development activities for the treatment of brain-related diseases in countries with advanced levels of science and technology. According to the statements of some important scientists, the current century will be a period in which scientific studies on brain research will come to the forefront and important solutions will be offered for brain diseases. In this context, the United States of America, arguably the best in the world in the field of neuroscience research, has declared the 21st century as the "century of the brain".

Scientific research is of great importance in finding the causes of disease and developing new drugs for treatment. In order to conduct research in accordance with the universal standards of science, appropriate laboratories, adequate equipment in laboratories and well-trained scientists are needed.

Üsküdar University is a thematic university focused on brain research. It has all the facilities where qualified scientific research and projects can be produced with a multidisciplinary approach and carried out in a healthy manner. Neuropsychopharmacology is an important and dynamic field of neuroscience that covers all research activities for the development of new and more effective drugs for the treatment of diseases associated with the central nervous system. It collaborates with psychiatry, pharmacology, neurology and psychology, as well as many other independent disciplines such as biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and biophysics. Neuropsychopharmacology research is conducted in many scientifically advanced countries. For these reasons, the Neuropsychopharmacology Application and Research Center (NPFUAM) was established at Üsküdar University, a thematic university focused on the brain. NPFUAM is the first center established in our country with a focus on conducting such scientific research. It is one of the few centers with this function in the world.

VISION

Research: To ensure the establishment of an idea that aims to make new discoveries with scientific research in our country, to produce new or alternative theories by questioning the existing ones, and to work to create all the scientific conditions and infrastructure necessary to be a candidate for a Nobel Prize in the future.

Education: To instill scientific thinking in students, to encourage students to participate in scientific research and to make them love science, and to bring talented people to the country to conduct scientific studies. To train qualified academicians who have the identity of exemplary scientists and adopt science as a lifestyle.

OBJECTIVES:

1. The main goal is to produce qualified scientific knowledge for the diagnosis and treatment of important brain diseases and to transform the scientific knowledge obtained into technology. For this purpose, it is aimed to produce qualified research projects, to carry them out in a healthy way, to transform them into new inventions registered with patents and to transform them into technology through new drugs or diagnostic methods.
2. To train scientists who have gained the ability to conduct qualified scientific research in the field of neuropsychopharmacology in line with ethical principles and to compete with the world at the highest level in the scientific platform.
3. To create an infrastructure that will pave the way for the training of qualified scientists of the future by creating approaches that will create a passion and motivation for scientific research in students studying at Üsküdar University, and by willing and talented students working in laboratories or participating in ongoing projects.
4. To exchange information and ideas by establishing relations with other universities and scientific research centers in Turkey and abroad, to develop and carry out joint projects for brain research with a multidisciplinary approach.
5. To carry out activities such as conferences, seminars, brochures and media-mediated information to inform and educate the public about the drug treatment of important brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, depression, Parkinson's and substance addiction and new developments in these diseases.

CURRENT CAPABILITIES AND SKILLS:

1. Laboratories where diseases of the nervous system can be easily modeled and their behaviors can be studied have been established and put into operation. The laboratories meet international scientific and ethical standards in experimental neuropsychopharmacology.
2. The center will raise the animals used in experimental studies such as rats and mice in accordance with international ethical and accreditation rules.
3. All major brain diseases can be modeled in experimental animals. Studies are ongoing to understand the etiopathogenesis of important brain diseases, especially schizophrenia and substance addiction, and to produce new approaches for their treatment.
4. Preclinical psychopharmacological screening studies of newly synthesized drugs that may have a chance to enter treatment as psychotropic drugs can be carried out.
5. Experimental neuropsychopharmacology studies can be transformed into more qualified data with the participation and support of important disciplines such as neuroanatomy, experimental psychology, molecular biology, pharmacogenetics and biochemistry. Opportunities to work together with the clinic, which can be considered as the last point, are also quite favorable.
6. The information needed by the clinician or patient for the most effective application of psychotropic drugs, taking into account the benefit / harm ratio, can be provided quickly and reliably.