Mood Dx I-Cure

While we at Ulster University have helped lead the way in understanding the composition of the oral microbiome in relation to depression in young adults, further studies are urgently required to validate these findings and develop a clinical viable diagnostic assay.The next steps will be development of a microbial panel, known as the MOOD-Dx (MicrObiome Changes in MajOr Depressive Disorder-Dx) array, to detect and measure the abundance of key bacterial taxa in saliva that were previously shown to be associated with depression and clinical validation of the MOOD-Dx panel for predicting depression in an independent cohort. The MOOD-Dx technology originates from research carried out by Dr Elaine Murray in the Personalised Medicine Centre, School of Medicine at Ulster University in understanding the composition of the oral microbiome in relation to depression in young adults.