Researchers
Dr. Gayatri Saraf's profile photo

Gayatri Saraf

Clinician Investigator, Neuroscience

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Contact

gsaraf@toh.ca

613-798-5555 ext 78079

Research Groups

Gray line-style icon of a microscope.
Research Group
Hatching Ideas Lab
The Hatching Ideas Lab is a research lab headed by Dr. Simon Hatcher based out of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Our program of research f...

Bio

Dr. Gayatri Saraf completed her medical school, residency and fellowship in Consult Liaison Psychiatry and worked in India before moving to Canada in 2019 for a fellowship in mood disorders at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She was awarded the prestigious Marshall fellowship twice for her research that focuses on using novel imaging methods to elucidate the neurobiology of bipolar disorder. Dr. Saraf has published articles in a wide variety of impactful journals and was recognized with a Young Investigator Award from the World of Federation of Societies for Biological Psychiatry in 2021.


She leads the mood stream of the outpatient mental health in The Ottawa hospital and her clinical work is focused on bipolar disorders, treatment resistant depression and anxiety disorders. 

Research Goals and Interests

Dr. Saraf's research program focuses on  mechanisms and novel therapeutics in bipolar depression. She is a PI or co-PI on several trials of novel interventions for bipolar disorders including time restricted eating, metformin and psilocybin assisted therapy. She is also currently a PI/co-PI on several neuroimaging studies in mood disorders investigating imaging biomarkers in mood disorders. She is the Ottawa site clinical lead for the BD2 Integrated Network Sites, which will help establish a longitudinal cohort of individuals with bipolar disorder and support the development of a learning health network.

Dr. Gayatri Saraf has multiple ongoing projects on bipolar depression. 

  1. SYNCED - SYNChronized Eating in bipolar Depression: Circadian rhythms are distrupted in bipolar disorders. Targeting the peripheral internal clock in the gut through time-restricted may improve health outcomes. This is a Randomized Control Trial for Bipolar I or II depression and with main outcomes looking at feasibility and acceptability of time-restricted eating. ONGOING RECRUITMENT
  2. Psilocybin assisted therapy for treatment resistant depression in Bipolar II disorder: psilocybin assisted therapy is the administration of psilocybin alongside psychological support. Psilocybin has been shown to have antidepressant properties. This is a Randomized Control Trial for Bipolar II disorder with main outcomes looking at efficacy, safety and tolerability of psilocybin. REGULATORY APPROVAL PENDING
  3. Evaluating neurobiology substrates of antidepressant response to psilocybin: a PET imaging study using SynVesT1: a substudy of the above psilocybin RCT that aims to investigate how psilocybin exerts its antidepressant effects through measuring changes in synaptic density in the brain. REGULATORY APPROVAL PENDING
  4. PET imaging for synaptic density in depression: a neuroimaging study aiming to investigate how synaptic density in the brain may be lower in individuals with bipolar depression and major depression disorder compared to healthy controls. This study will be using PET imaging with SynVesT1 and diffusion MRI with NODDI. ONGOING RECRUITMENT

Related Research at The Ottawa Hospital