NeuroPRSMH (Neuroplasticity Research in Support of Mental Health) is a trans-disciplinary group of faculty from the Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Psychology, and the Institute for Health Informatics. We formed in September 2016 to collaborate on research questions related to neuroplasticity, computational psychiatry, and the neuroscience of innovative treatment approaches for psychiatric illness. Our hope is that by combining our computational, fundamental-science, and clinical perspectives, we can discover novel and forward-thinking ways to understand and treat psychiatric disorders, with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of those affected.
Our Postulates:
- Abnormalities in brain circuit information processing play a key role in the development and manifestation of mental illness.
- Compensatory modifications in brain circuit information processing play a key role in modulating the development and manifestation of mental illness.
- For any given individual, multiple critical influences (development, plasticity processes, behavior, and environment) operate dynamically upon features of brain circuit information processing.
- Therefore, mechanisms that underlie brain circuit information processing can be harnessed to develop preventive interventions and successful, enduring treatments at different junctures in the development and manifestation of mental illness.
“What we’re trying to do is use basic neuroscience to inform our understanding of psychiatric disorders and potential treatments” explained NeuroPRSMH faculty member Kelvin Lim, MD. “One paradigm, for example, uses animal models of various psychiatric disorders to gain insight into the mechanisms and pathologies that underlie these disorders, which could lead to human treatments”