Each addressing the disease from different and unique perspectives, three young UC Davis researchers have received one of the most prestigious mental-health grants in the world to investigate one of the least understood and devastating psychiatric disorders:  schizophrenia.

Stephanie L. Barrow, Melissa D. Bauman and Tara A. Niendam are among only 200 researchers worldwide selected from more than 1,000 applicants for the NARSAD Young Investigator Grants. The grants are distributed by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), the world's leading private philanthropy devoted to funding research on psychiatric disorders.

Triclosan is commonly found in antibacterial personal-care products such as hand soaps as well as deodorants, mouthwashes, toothpaste, bedding, clothes, carpets, toys and trash bags.

Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado. The findings appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

"Triclosan is found in virtually everyone's home and is pervasive in the environment," said Isaac Pessah, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Biosciences in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and principal investigator of the study. "These findings provide strong evidence that the chemical is of concern to both human and environmental health."