Symposium 11: Advances in psychiatry drug discovery and development
Tracks
Track 3
| Wednesday, July 15, 2026 |
| 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM |
Details
The paucity of genuine pharmacological therapies for psychiatric disorders is a critical unmet need. Major challenges remain in the field: 1. a lack of genuine, predictive preclinical models to drive discovery and service a translational path; 2. a fundamental requirement for better linkages between human pathophysiology. Tackling these issues enables development of medicines that provide relief for patients; especially for those that are treatment refractory.
This symposium will highlight the recent advances in psychiatry drug discovery. This is done by engaging world-class, international and domestic researchers working at the forefront of preclinical and clinical research within biotech or at the interface of academia and biopharma. It will enable the patients’ voice to be heard through a lived experience advocate – something that is seldom disseminated in psychiatry. This symposium will also offer clear future sight into the changing face of psychiatry drug discovery.
Speaker
Dr Cliona MacSweeney
Nxera Pharma UK Ltd
Development of a GPR52 agonist as a novel therapeutic for schizophrenia
Biography
Clíona completed her BSc in Biochemistry and PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Galway, Ireland, where she studied animal models of psychiatric disorders. She went on to work in the pharmaceutical industry and contract research organisations, spending ten years of her career at Merck (formerly Organon), UK, where she led functional and project teams progressing CNS compounds from target validation through translational studies and into the clinic. Clíona has been at Nxera for eight years and leads a program currently in clinical trials for schizophrenia.
Dr Stela Petkova
Senior Research Scientist
University Of Sydney
Of rodents and remedies: translational approaches to preclinical psychiatry drug discovery
Biography
Dr. Stela Petkova is a senior neuroscience researcher at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney. She earned her PhD at the University of California Davis, where she worked on developing translational behavioural outcomes in rat and mouse genetic models of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders. Since then, she has built broad expertise in translational behavioural neuroscience, psychiatric disorders, and preclinical models. Dr. Petkova works across academia at University of Sydney and industry with Kinoxis Therapeutics. She leads projects examining the molecular and behavioural mechanisms of psychiatric conditions, with a focus on supporting drug discovery and development. Her work aims to help bridge the gap between basic research and clinical application in mental health.
Sandy Jeffs
Cobenfy, why am I not thrilled? We have been down the madness wonder drugs road before
Biography
Sandy Jeffs OAM was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1976 when it was considered something from which you could not recover. In the 1980s, she was among the first wave of people who started speaking publicly about living with a mental illness. Much of her writing has been about her struggle with schizophrenia. Sandy has published 8 volumes of poetry and a memoir Flying with Paper Wings: Reflections on Living with Madness which was republished March 2024. Sandy co-authored with Margaret Leggatt, Out of the Madhouse: From Asylums to Caring Community? which won the oral history prize at the 2020 Victorian Community History Awards.
Session chair
Natalie Diepenhorst
Lab Head
Monash University
Daisy Sparl
The Florey
