Dr. Bunney’s research involves work on serious psychiatric disorders – major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia (SZ), including studies on rapid-acting treatment strategies and their mechanisms of action, the role of abnormal 24-hour circadian rhythms controlled by clock genes in MDD and strategies to reset them, and genetic research identifying clinical and molecular biomarkers to identify individuals at high-risk for suicide.

Postmortem blood was obtained from depressed patients who died by suicide (MDD-S) and from depressed patients who died by other means (MDD-NS). Data was published on the results of 117 genes analyzed, identifying 11 genes as highly statistically different between the two groups. (Altmetrics, a company that tracks access and news media, reported the study received significant attention, tracking in the top 2% of 296,740 articles of similar age. In addition, there were also news reports from 19 different countries after the paper was translated into various foreign languages.) Subsequently an independent study replicated 9 of the 11 relevant genes originally identified (unpublished). Health care providers could recognize these blood/brain biomarkers in severely depressed patients to identify those at highest risk for suicide, which could potentially save lives.

Dr. Bunney’s 484 scientific publications have been cited 66,080 times. He has an H-factor (Google Scholar database) score of 132 (132 papers cited over 132 times). 65 papers cited between 200 and 2,518 times. While conducting his research, Dr. Bunney continues his administrative activities as the Associate Dean for Research Faculty Liaison for the School of Medicine, UCI.