David A. Silbersweig - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Schizophrenia is a devastating and common disorder, affecting 1% of the population worldwide, and causing tremendous suffering at great societal cost. Psychosis, consisting of the symptoms of delusions and- hallucinations, represents the most striking and severe part of the psychiatric symptom spectrum, and causes significant morbidity. Nevertheless, less is known about the pathophysiology of such positive symptoms, compared with the widely studied deficit or negative symptoms. Functional neuroimaging is uniquely suited to an in vivo, systems-level investigation of psychiatric disorders, and can be adapted for the study of psychosis. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods are now mature enough to reliably take advantage of the increased spatial and temporal resolution offered by this technology. The investigators have optimized methods of fMRI study design, image acquisition and analysis for the study of psychotic symptoms.. They have also developed behavioral activation paradigms to target the specific neural circuits and neuropsychological functions implicated in these symptoms, based upon their previous work, in the context of current knowledge in the field. In this project these methods will be used with well-characterized, actively paranoid schizophrenic patients as well as non-psychotic patient and normal control subjects, to identify and characterize patterns of neural activity associated with the prominent psychotic symptom of paranoid delusions, and to test a neurobiologically specific model of psychosis in schizophrenia. This model is closely integrated with basic neuroscientific models and experiments, and focuses upon increased activity in mesotemporal and subcortical mesolimbic structures, in the setting of decreased activity in medial prefrontal regions. Such a neurobiological characterization of the major psychotic symptoms can increase our understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, and thereby provide a necessary foundation for the development of more targeted, biologically based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a renewal application for a psychiatry/psychology functional neuroimaging research education program at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. The overall goal of this research education program is to develop and implement educational approaches that attract trainees from many academic backgrounds to, and that provide rigorous training in, the multidisciplinary field of functional neuroimaging research, particularly for the clinically relevant study of human neuropsychiatric disorders and neurocognitive development. The mechanisms to achieve this goal comprise a coordinated range of targeted initiatives, educational modules, mentored research experiences, and curricula, designed to accommodate different academic backgrounds and levels, and different, though complementary, areas of focus. For undergraduate and graduate or medical students pursuing relevant courses of study, lectures and course modules are used to expose them, and attract them, to this rapidly evolving field. For students spending a summer, an intensive curriculum and training experience is used to give them a theoretical and practical foundation regarding this research. For medical or graduate students and fellows pursuing more prolonged, advanced training, depth and breadth are achieved by combining an area of focus (studying a specific neuropsychological process, brain circuit or disorder with a particular method) with a core curriculum and set of experiences ensuring a comprehensive exposure to the main principles, findings and methods in basic behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, imaging science, and neuropsychiatry. Instruction is also provided in the responsible conduct of research. The recruitment and retention of minority students remains an important goal and activity. This is a highly interdisciplinary training environment, with M.D.s and Ph.D.s working closely together to integrate medical, (neuro)biological and psychology/cognitive neuroscience perspectives; methods and applications; child, adult and geriatric neurobehavioral functions and pathology. The successful experience of the initial phase of this program is built upon by extending and deepening the educational initiatives and materials developed, and by adding new initiatives and materials. [unreadable] New themes will be added, including emphases on translational research, imaging genetics and multivariate image analysis, with a focus on fronto-limbic and fronto-striatal circuits of great relevance to neuropsychiatric and developmental disorders. Outreach and web-based educational activities will be expanded to expose even more prospective trainees to this field. [unreadable] [unreadable]