Researchers are especially interested in the role of stress hormones.
Now, a colony of 40 squirrel monkeys, housed in a medical center basement, might provide some answers. By looking at genetic and environmental factors at play in the animals, David Lyons, a senior research scientist in psychiatry, is learning more about the neurobiology of depression. The work is one of about 20 projects in the Nancy Pritzker Network on Depression Research. Scientists from Cornell, Michigan and Stanford share information on their research. The Pritzker family, Chicago philanthropists, established a lab at Stanford two decades ago in memory of Nancy Pritzker, '70.