Maximillian Greenwald
About
Biography
Max Greenwald is an MD/PhD Student interested in neuropsychiatry completing his PhD research in the lab of Albert Powers, MD. PhD.
He received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT in 2018. In 2016, Max completed a summer project studying the biogenesis of dense core vesicles (DCVs) using molecular biology approaches in Michael Ailion’s lab at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA -- Max's hometown. He spent the next two years in Glen Ernstrom’s lab at Middlebury College studying interactions and mechanisms of synaptic vesicles proteins involved in neurotransmitter loading, completing a senior thesis which earned him High Honors in Neuroscience. Following these experiences, Max became interested in human neuroscience and clinical research and was awarded a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). After a year spent backpacking in South & Central America, he worked for two years at NIMH in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch (ETPB) clinical research lab under Carlos Zarate researching ketamine’s psychoactive and rapid-acting antidepressant effects. Max remains extremely interested in translational psychiatry research working with human subjects, with a special interest in pro-neuroplastic psychoactive therapeutics and non-ordinary states of consciousness. Outside of medicine, Max is an avid lover of traveling and the outdoors, and he tries to spend as much time as humanly possible outside of work hiking, running, eating, talking with friends, and spotting critters in the woods.
Education & Training
- Postbac Intramural Research Training Awardee (IRTA)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2021)
- BA
- Middlebury College, Neuroscience (2018)
Research
Publications
Inflammation, stress and depression: An exploration of ketamine’s therapeutic profile
Johnston J, Greenwald M, Henter I, Kraus C, Mkrtchian A, Clark N, Park L, Gold P, Zarate C, Kadriu B. Inflammation, stress and depression: An exploration of ketamine’s therapeutic profile. Drug Discovery Today 2023, 28: 103518. PMID: 36758932, PMCID: PMC10050119, DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2023.103518.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsConceptsUnique therapeutic mechanismTherapeutic profileCentral nervous system inflammationHypothalamic pituitary adrenal axisNervous system inflammationRapid-acting antidepressantsTreatment-resistant depressionAnti-inflammatory actionPeripheral inflammatory biomarkersSystem inflammationInflammatory biomarkersProinflammatory stateCytokine suppressionAdrenal axisKynurenine pathwayTherapeutic effectTherapeutic mechanismAnimal modelsInflammationDepressionAntidepressantsKetamineFurther investigationBiomarkers