Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are harnessing the power of digital tools to revolutionize depression diagnosis and treatment. Led by Dr. Jun Ma, a team of scientists has secured over $10 million in grants to investigate the use of a smartphone app, an AI voice assistant, and other technologies to personalize mental health care. The goal is to broaden access to psychiatric care and realize the promise of precision psychiatry, where healthcare is tailored to individual needs.
Dr. Ma and her colleagues are building on previous research that identified six depression biotypes using brain scans and machine learning. They will use a smartphone app called BiAffect, created by UIC researchers Dr. Alex Leow and Peter Nelson, to assess patients’ cognitive health between clinic visits. The team will also employ an AI virtual coach, Lumen, on the Amazon Alexa platform, to provide behavioral therapy for depression paired with a video-based anti-obesity program. By leveraging these digital interventions, the researchers aim to deliver targeted treatments to patients, particularly in medically underserved populations.
Personalizing Depression Diagnosis and Treatment with Digital Tools
The University of Illinois Chicago has embarked on a groundbreaking research project, backed by two grants totaling over $10 million, to investigate the potential of digital tools in personalizing depression diagnosis and treatment. The researchers aim to leverage smartphone apps, AI voice assistants, and other technologies to predict which patients will benefit from specific treatments and deliver those treatments on demand.
The project’s primary objective is to broaden access to psychiatric care and realize the promise of precision psychiatry, a paradigm that prioritizes personalized, predictive, and preventive healthcare. Dr. Jun Ma, the lead researcher, emphasized the need for new digital assessment tools to better monitor and predict disease trajectory and treatment response in patients with depression. This approach would enable clinicians to provide patients with tailored treatments that work for them, rather than relying on trial-and-error methods.
Treating Different Types of Depression
Psychiatrists have long recognized that there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for depression. In fact, evidence suggests that the disorder may comprise several clinical subtypes. Recently, Dr. Ma and her collaborators at Stanford University published a study in Nature Medicine identifying six depression biotypes using brain scans and machine learning. The researchers found that some of these subtypes were more responsive to antidepressant medication, while others benefited more from therapy.
The new grant will enable the researchers to build on these findings by incorporating additional diagnostic tools into their brain-scan data and launching a clinical trial. One such tool is BiAffect, a smartphone app created by UIC researchers that measures cognitive health through changes in typing behavior during everyday tasks. By assessing patients between clinic visits, researchers hope to generate new information that may help identify additional subtypes of depression.
The Role of Cognitive Function in Depression
The study highlights the importance of cognitive function in mood disorders, an aspect often overlooked in favor of emotional symptoms. Dr. Olusola Ajilore, a professor of psychiatry at UIC, emphasized that alterations in cognitive processes play a crucial role in depression. By sorting study participants into groups with and without cognitive dysfunction, researchers aim to better tailor treatments for each group.
A Fully Digital Intervention for Depression and Obesity
Depression often co-occurs with obesity, particularly among middle-aged and older adults from Black and Latino communities. Dr. Ma’s team has previously shown that combining behavioral interventions for both conditions can be more effective than addressing them separately. The new grant will fund a trial using an AI virtual coach to provide behavioral therapy for depression, paired with a video-based anti-obesity program.
The digital intervention, which includes the Lumen app on the Amazon Alexa platform, guides patients through problem-solving therapy. A pilot study demonstrated that this approach was associated with reduced depression and anxiety in patients, particularly among women and non-white individuals. The new study will primarily enroll Black and Latino adults between 50 and 74 years old, groups that generally have poor access to psychiatric treatment.
By leveraging these digital interventions to deliver care at scale, the researchers hope to address accessibility issues and provide the right treatment to the right patient at the right time. This approach aligns with the mission of the Vitoux Program on Aging and Prevention at UIC, which prioritizes improving healthcare outcomes for underserved populations.
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