A blood test designed to diagnose mental health illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia took centre stage at the recent 2007 Medical Futures Innovation Awards, winning the overall award for the mental health and neurosciences category.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Sabine Bahn and Professor Chris Lowe accepted the award on behalf of their research team at the Institute of Biotechnology at Cambridge for the Psynova - Blood Test for Mental Illness, which uses novel biomarkers to identify those who are predisposed to mental illness, well before they present with symptoms.

Bahn and Lowe established Psynova Neurotech in 2005 as a vehicle to commercially develop and exploit novel biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders. Working closely with the Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research (CCNR) and the Institute of Biotechnology (IOB), they have put together a database of comprehensive data on biomarkers specific to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.