About the Project
A PhD studentship is available in the Psychiatric Imaging group, head by Dr Oliver Howes.
Our research focuses on understanding the causes of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression using PET and other functional imaging techniques and developing better treatments.
Mental illnesses are a major cause of ill health and premature death. They account for four of the six leading causes of adult disability in the world and one in every ten hospital beds in the UK is for the treatment of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
Current work in the Group focuses on:
* Understanding the brain changes that lead to psychotic disorders, using multi-modal imaging with PET and fMRI
* Examining the effects of risk factors for mental illness (such as stress, cannabis or ketamine)
* Examining the effect of rare genetic alterations linked to psychosis on brain function
* Developing better treatments for psychotic disorders
* Developing preclinical models for future drug development
References
Schizophrenia: an integrated sociodevelopment model. Howes O & Murray. Lancet. In press, 2013
Midbrain dopamine function in schizophrenia and depression: a post-mortem and positron emission tomographic imaging study.
Howes OD, Williams M, Ibrahim K, Leung G, Egerton A, McGuire PK, Turkheimer F.
Brain. 2013 Oct 3
Antipsychotic Treatment Resistance in Schizophrenia Associated with Elevated Glutamate Levels but Normal Dopamine Function.
Demjaha A, Egerton A, Murray RM, Kapur S, Howes OD, Stone JM, McGuire PK.
Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Jul 25
Dopaminergic Function in Cannabis Users and Its Relationship to Cannabis-Induced Psychotic Symptoms.
Bloomfield MA, Morgan CJ, Egerton A, Kapur S, Curran HV, Howes OD.
Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Jun 29
Presynaptic striatal dopamine dysfunction in people at ultra-high risk for psychosis: findings in a second cohort.
Egerton A, Chaddock CA, Winton-Brown TT, Bloomfield MA, Bhattacharyya S, Allen P, McGuire PK, Howes OD.
Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Jul 15;74(2):106-12.
Dopamine synthesis capacity in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia.
Demjaha A, Murray RM, McGuire PK, Kapur S, Howes OD.
Am J Psychiatry. 2012 Nov 1;169(11):1203-10.
Effects of citalopram on serotonin neurotransmission.
Selvaraj S, Faulkner P, Mouchlianitis E, Roiser JP, Howes O.
Mol Psychiatry. 2012 Dec;17(12):1143.
Nature or nurture? Determining the heritability of human striatal dopamine function: an [18F]-DOPA PET study.
Stokes PR, Shotbolt P, Mehta MA, Turkheimer E, Benecke A, Copeland C, Turkheimer FE, Lingford-Hughes AR, Howes OD.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2013 Feb;38(3):485-91.
Measuring endogenous changes in serotonergic neurotransmission in humans: a [11C]CUMI-101 PET challenge study.
Selvaraj S, Turkheimer F, Rosso L, Faulkner P, Mouchlianitis E, Roiser JP, McGuire P, Cowen PJ, Howes O.
Mol Psychiatry. 2012 Dec;17(12):1254-60.
Dopamine synthesis capacity before onset of psychosis: a prospective [18F]-DOPA PET imaging study.
Howes OD, Bose SK, Turkheimer F, Valli I, Egerton A, Valmaggia LR, Murray RM, McGuire P.
Am J Psychiatry. 2011 Dec;168(12):1311-7
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