Date: Thursday November 20th at 12:30 - 13:10 in Árnagarður, room 306
Title: Novel Treatment for ADHD: A Drug Discovery Journey
Speaker: Karl Ægir Karlsson, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Reykjavik University
Abstract: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) remains a major unmet clinical need, motivating the search for mechanistically novel and better-tolerated treatments. This talk will present a multi-layered experimental program discovering and evaluating amlodipine, an L-type calcium channel blocker, as a repurposed therapeutic candidate for ADHD.
Our work began with unbiased chemical screening in zebrafish, using both wild-type fish and adgrl3.1 mutant models that capture core ADHD-like phenotypes. Across several behavioral paradigms, amlodipine consistently rescued hyperactivity, impulsivity, and risk-related abnormalities. These findings were reinforced by cross-species validation, including targeted behavioral and pharmacological studies in rat models, as well as by drug-target Mendelian Randomization and polygenic analyses that converge on calcium-channel signaling as a plausible mechanistic axis in ADHD.
Building on this foundation, our translational pipeline now integrates in vivo proof-of-concept work in zebrafish and rat systems and bulk multiomics analyses to map molecular pathways engaged by treatment, and pharmacokinetic studies demonstrating substantial brain penetration across species. In parallel, we are advancing optimized formulations, designed to improve future clinical utility.
This lecture will synthesize these experimental data and explain a drug discovery journey within academia.
Bio: Karl Ægir Karlsson, PhD, is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Reykjavik University, a group leader at the University of Iceland’s Biomedical Center. and founder and CEO of 3Z ehf. Trained in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience at the University of Iowa and later a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA, Karlsson’s research integrates in vivo behavioral analysis, neurogenetics, and multiomics across zebrafish and rodent models as well is human experiments. His group has developed several high-impact models of neuropsychiatric disease and recently led the cross-species experimental program identifying a novel ADHD therapeutic candidate.
