Lorenza Magno

Title

Fostering innovation in mental health: Bridging the gap between academia and industry 

Abstract

The journey from mental health diagnosis to effective treatment is fraught with challenges, including overlap of symptoms across illnesses, a disconnect between diagnoses and neurobiology, and a reliance on trial-and-error treatment methods. These issues underscore the need for a better understanding of mental health illnesses, leading to a more personalized and precise approach to psychiatry.  

At Boehringer Ingelheim, we are embracing a patient-centric approach which includes improved patient stratification, identifying new therapeutic concepts and advancing novel chemical, biological and digital approaches in order to find new treatment options for neuropsychiatric conditions.  

This endeavour necessitates a collaborative effort, bringing together academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and other stakeholders in mental health care. We are committed to fostering these partnerships, believing that together, we can advance the development of targeted, effective treatments.   

Here, we will detail our research philosophy and collaborative model with academia, illustrating how these partnerships are essential in advancing our understanding of mental health illnesses.  

Biography

Having transitioned from academia to drug discovery, first at a charity-funded institute and then in the pharmaceutical industry, I have explored neuroscience research from various perspectives. This journey has taken me across Europe, enriching my cultural background and expanding my professional network.  

I obtained a degree in Biotechnology applied to Pharmacy from the Università degli Studi di Milano, followed by a Ph.D. in Medical Neurosciences from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. During these years, I worked on projects ranging from Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration to brain development, spanning both human and animal research.  

During my postdoctoral tenure at the University College London (Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research), I honed my interest in understanding how neuronal heterogeneity is generated during brain development and how altered developmental trajectories can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders. Subsequently, I shifted back to a more translational research setting and joined the Alzheimer’s Research UK UCL Drug Discovery Institute. There, I led teams and projects aimed at identifying new treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, focusing on new biology in the field, including modulating targets in microglia.  

Since 2024, I joined Boehringer Ingelheim. In my current role, I lead the External Innovation Team within the Discovery Research Neuroscience & Mental Health department. We collaborate with academic and research partners, complementing our internal research with the goal to enhance our understanding, and discovering better treatments for psychiatric disorders and other mental health conditions.