Rate My Professor Sara Crellin

Sara Crellin is a researcher affiliated with the Department of Psychological Medicine in the Dunedin School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Otago. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2025 with a thesis titled 'Mode of action of bipolar disorder therapeutics, novel ex vivo screening methods and EEG dynamics in humans.' Supervised by Professor Paul Glue, Professor Dirk De Ridder, Associate Professor Phil Sheard, and Dr Phil Heyward, her doctoral research investigated the underlying mechanisms of bipolar disorder treatments. Crellin focused on how therapeutics such as lithium influence the flow of electricity along neural connections, specifically axonal conduction in brain regions associated with emotion and cognition. She developed a novel ex vivo mouse lateral olfactory tract preparation to enable pharmacological and electrophysiological studies of axonal function, addressing a gap in prior research that had not examined these aspects despite clinical neuroimaging evidence of compromised axonal integrity in bipolar disorder. Her work explores neural network dynamics and potential new therapeutic targets, aiming to improve treatments, diagnostics, and public understanding of bipolar disorder as a physiological condition affecting cellular function in the brain.

During her PhD, Crellin received several accolades recognizing her contributions. She won the Otago Medical School Research Society PhD Student Speaker Award in 2024 for her conference presentation 'Novel therapeutic targets in the treatment of bipolar disorder.' She was also named Best Speaker and Best PhD Presentation at Queenstown Research Week 2024, and placed as doctoral runner-up in the University of Otago's 3-minute thesis competition. In 2024, she was awarded the MacGibbon PhD travel fellowship, funding a four-month research stay at the Brain Stimulation Lab in Stanford University's Department of Behavioural Sciences and Psychiatry. There, she acquired advanced skills in electroencephalography data processing, transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols, intracranial electroencephalogram analysis, and deep brain stimulation applications for bipolar disorder. Crellin has engaged in public outreach, using a lightbulb analogy to explain her research: bipolar symptoms manifest like a faulty bulb, but treatments target the underlying 'cables'—axons—to restore neural function. Her efforts highlight disparities in bipolar disorder prevalence, including 2.1% among New Zealanders, 3.6% among Pacific peoples, and 4.6% among Māori, advocating for better empathy, support, and adherence to holistic management strategies.