Skip to main content

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Menu Search


Trinity College Dublin By using this website you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with the Trinity cookie policy. For more information on cookies see our cookie policy.

      
Profile Photo

Professor Declan Mc Loughlin

Research Professor of Psychiatry (Psychiatry)
ST PATRICKS HOSPITAL

 D.McLoughlin@tcd.ie

 3531 2493200

Research Professor of Psychiatry (Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN))


Biography

Declan M McLoughlin PhD MRCPI MRCPsych FTCD is Research Professor of Psychiatry in St Patrick's University Hospital and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He qualified in Medicine from University College Dublin in 1986. After training in general medicine, he trained in Psychiatry, firstly in Dublin and then at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry (IOP) in London. He obtained an Alzheimer's Society Training Fellowship (1994-1997) in the Dept of Neuroscience at the IOP, followed by a Wellcome Advanced Fellowship (1997-2000), during which time he was awarded a PhD in Molecular Neuroscience for his work on Alzheimer's disease APP-interacting proteins. After this he was appointed as a clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry in the Maudsley Hospital. In 2007 he took up the new post of Research Professor of Psychiatry in Trinity College Dublin and St Patrick's University Hospital, where he is also a consultant in Old Age Psychiatry. Recent research activities include: randomised controlled trials of ECT (EFFECT-Dep Study) and ketamine (KEEP-WELL, KARMA-Dep, KARMA-Dep 2) in severe depression; systematic reviews and meta-analyses; molecular biomarkers (e.g. mRNA, miRNA, telomere length) for depression; molecular mechanisms of action of ECT; and studies on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the well-being of health care workers (COWORKER). His work has been supported by the Alzheimer's Society, Wellcome Trust, NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme, NARSAD, and the Health Research Board.
Meechan CF, Laws KR, Young AH, McLoughlin DM, Jauhar S., A critique of narrative reviews of the evidence-base for ECT in depression., Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 31, 2022, pe10 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Doody MRCPsych, Eimear, Ryan, Karen M., O'Toole MRCPsych, Clare, McLoughlin, Declan M., Telomere length in patients with anorexia nervosa, Psychiatry Research Communications, 2, (1), 2022, p100022 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Celine A. Fox, Declan M. McLoughlin, Speed of electroconvulsive therapy for depression: Effects of electrode placement, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Jelovac A, Kolshus E, McLoughlin DM., Relapse following bitemporal and high-dose right unilateral electroconvulsive therapy for major depression., Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 144, (3), 2021, p218-229 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Gallagher B, Neiman A, Slattery MC, McLoughlin DM., Online news media reporting of ketamine as a treatment for depression from 2000 to 2017., Irish journal of psychological medicine, 2021, p1-9 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Ryan KM, Finnegan M, Harkin A, McLoughlin DM., PBMC telomerase activity in depression and the response to electroconvulsive therapy., European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 271, (7), 2021, p1297-1307 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Bauer M, Glenn T, Achtyes ED, Alda M, Agaoglu E, Alt"nba" K, Andreassen OA, Angelopoulos E, Ardau R, Vares EA, Aydin M, Ayhan Y, Baethge C, Bauer R, Baune BT, Balaban C, Becerra-Palars C, Behere AP, Behere PB, Belete H, Belete T, Belizario GO, Bellivier F, Belmaker RH, Benedetti F, Berk M, Bersudsky Y, Bicakci ", Birabwa-Oketcho H, Bjella TD, Brady C, Cabrera J, Cappucciati M, Castro AMP, Chen WL, Cheung EYW, Chiesa S, Crowe M, Cuomo A, Dallaspezia S, Del Zompo M, Desai P, Dodd S, Donix M, Etain B, Fagiolini A, Fellendorf FT, Ferensztajn-Rochowiak E, Fiedorowicz JG, Fountoulakis KN, Frye MA, Geoffroy PA, Gonzalez-Pinto A, Gottlieb JF, Grof P, Haarman BCM, Harima H, Hasse-Sousa M, Henry C, Høffding L, Houenou J, Imbesi M, Isometsä ET, Ivkovic M, Janno S, Johnsen S, Kapczinski F, Karakatsoulis GN, Kardell M, Kessing LV, Kim SJ, König B, Kot TL, Koval M, Kunz M, Lafer B, Landén M, Larsen ER, Lenger M, Lewitzka U, Licht RW, Lopez-Jaramillo C, MacKenzie A, Madsen HØ, Madsen SAKA, Mahadevan J, Mahardika A, Manchia M, Marsh W, Martinez-Cengotitabengoa M, Martiny K, Mashima Y, McLoughlin DM, Meesters Y, Melle I, Meza-Urzúa F, Ming MY, Monteith S, Moorthy M, Morken G, Mosca E, Mozzhegorov AA, Munoz R, Mythri SV, Nacef F, Nadella RK, Nakanotani T, Nielsen RE, O'Donovan C, Omrani A, Osher Y, Ouali U, Pantovic-Stefanovic M, Pariwatcharakul P, Petite J, Pfennig A, Ruiz YP, Pilhatsch M, Pinna M, Pompili M, Porter R, Quiroz D, Rabelo-da-Ponte FD, Ramesar R, Rasgon N, Ratta-Apha W, Ratzenhofer M, Redahan M, Reddy MS, Reif A, Reininghaus EZ, Richards JG, Ritter P, Rybakowski JK, Sathyaputri L, Scippa ÂM, Simhandl C, Severus E, Smith D, Smith J, Stackhouse PW, Stein DJ, Stilwell K, Strejilevich S, Su KP, Subramaniam M, Sulaiman AH, Suominen K, Tanra AJ, Tatebayashi Y, Teh WL, Tondo L, Torrent C, Tuinstra D, Uchida T, Vaaler AE, Veeh J, Vieta E, Viswanath B, Yoldi-Negrete M, Yalcinkaya OK, Young AH, Zgueb Y, Whybrow PC., Variations in seasonal solar insolation are associated with a history of suicide attempts in bipolar I disorder., International journal of bipolar disorders, 9, (1), 2021, p26 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Rimmerman N, Verdiger H, Goldenberg H, Naggan L, Robinson E, Kozela E, Gelb S, Reshef R, Ryan KM, Ayoun L, Refaeli R, Ashkenazi E, Schottlender N, Ben Hemo-Cohen L, Pienica C, Aharonian M, Dinur E, Lazar K, McLoughlin DM, Zvi AB, Yirmiya R., Microglia and their LAG3 checkpoint underlie the antidepressant and neurogenesis-enhancing effects of electroconvulsive stimulation., Molecular psychiatry, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Loughran O, Finnegan M, Dud I, Galligan T, Kennedy M, McLoughlin DM., Decision-making Capacity for Treatment After Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression., The journal of ECT, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Brady C, Fenton C Loughran O, Higgins A, McLoughlin D, Nursing home staff mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 37, (1), 2021, Notes: [doi.org/10.1002/gps.5648], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

Page 1 of 18
Semkovska M, McLoughlin DM , Retrograde autobiographical amnesia following ECT: on the difficulty of finding the baby and clearing murky bathwater, J ECT, 30, (3), 2014, p187 - 188, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Dunne RA, McLoughlin DM, Physical treatments, Medicine , 40, 2012, p672 - 673, Notes: [ ], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
McLoughlin, DM, Vagus rules still apply., Psychological Medicine, 38, (5), 2008, p625 - 627, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
McLoughlin, DM, Review: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is of unknown effectiveness in people with depression., Evidence-Based Mental Health, 6, (4), 2003, p118 - 118, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Lovestone S, McLoughlin D., Alzheimer's disease: molecular biology and the quest for a treatment. , Care of the Elderly, 6, 1994, p149-152 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Cigeroglu YB, McLoughlin D., Psychotherapy training in Turkey, 1994, - 650-651, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED

  

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

I have been investigating the neuronal signalling function of the Alzheimer's disease amyloid precursor protein (APP) and was among the first to identify the FE65 and X11 adaptor proteins as APPbinding partners. To study their functions in vivo, we have made X11 transgenic mice and have demonstrated that the X11s regulate APP processing and reduce cerebral Ab production and deposition. The neuronal X11 proteins are therefore novel therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease. I am now leading a research group studying behavioural and electrophysiological effects of X11- mediated reduction in cerebral Ab in an Alzheimer's animal model. On the clinical side, I have also been leading randomised controlled trials of therapeutic neuromodulation techniques (e.g. transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy) for neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. In St Patrick's Hospital and TCD, we are about to start a 5-year research programme called the EFFECT-Dep Study (enhancing the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy in severe depression and understanding its molecular mechanism of action). This programme is supported by a HRB Translational Research Award and its purpose is to improve ECT practice and use it to interrogate the molecular neurobiology of depression. We will carry out a definitive randomised controlled trial comparing bilateral and high-dose unilateral ECT, recruiting 140 patients with severe depression. We will also use an animal model of ECT treatment to characterise changes in global protein expression (i.e. the proteome) in both brain and blood plasma and also carry out similar studies using plasma from depressed patients recruited into the clinical trial. The results of these studies will improve clinical ECT and also help us understand better the molecular mechanism of action of ECT, as well as antidepressant drugs, and lead to identification of candidate peripheral biomarkers for depression, treatment response and depression relapse.