"Cortical Disorganization in Psychosis. Neurophysiological, clinical and genetic factors"

Project Information

CODIP

Grant agreement ID: 330156

Project closed

Start date 6 May 2013

End date 5 May 2015

Funded under

• Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Total cost € 221 606,40

EU contribution € 221 606,40

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Objective

"Background: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are severe mental illnesses which cause high rates of disability, social and economic costs. Although there is compelling evidence of a genetic contribution to psychosis and we know deficits in neuronal connectivity are a key factor, the pathophysiology and aetiology of the disease remain poorly understood. Aims: (i) To identify biomarkers of neural dys-connectivity characterising psychosis through neurophysiological and neuropsychological techniques. (ii) To apply such biomarkers in genetic association studies in order to understand the mechanisms by which variation at certain loci leads to the onset of the disease. Methods: Neurophysiology is a non-invasive and inexpensive technique with a superb temporal resolution that allows the study of perceptual and cognitive processes in vivo. My UCL supervisor and I have collected a large sample of families with psychosis cases including 300 patients, 220 unaffected relatives and 300 controls. Participants completed a battery of experiments including resting EEG, P300 wave, P50 gating, Mismatch Negativity and cognitive assessments. I will train in advanced analytics using Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM), which tests models of neural activity and its synchronisation deficits and is a new tool in psychiatry. Through DCM I will identify novel measures of brain dys-connectivity to use as phenotypes for genetic association. I will examine candidate genes, identified through association studies using Plink and Unphased software. I will train in gene ontology tools to perform pathway analyses using the extensive genome-wide genotyping that is already available on my sample. UCL, a centre of excellence in neuroscience, will host my research. Implications: Biomarkers of brain connectivity could be used towards the earlier detection and treatment of psychosis. Understanding the mechanisms of action of susceptibility genes is essential to develop safer and more effective new treatments."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.

• natural sciences › biological sciences › neurobiology
• natural sciences › computer and information sciences › knowledge engineering › ontology
• medical and health sciences › basic medicine › physiology › pathophysiology
• medical and health sciences › clinical medicine › psychiatry › schizophrenia
• social sciences › psychology › cognitive psychology

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Programme(s)

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

• FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF - Marie-Curie Action: "Intra-European fellowships for career development"

Call for proposal

FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

• EU contribution: € 221 606,40
• Address: GOWER STREET ; WC1E 6BT LONDON ;
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: No data