Deficits in attention and working memory, the abilities that allow individuals to selectively attend to and mentally maintain and manipulate information to guide behavior, are considered to be central components to the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. While advances in antipsychotic pharmacotherapy have resulted in important gains for treating symptoms of hallucinations and delusions, cognitive deficits have been far less responsive to standard treatments. Developing novel pharmacological agents to target these persistent cognitive deficits is an important goal of ongoing schizophrenia treatment research. This is a broad and multidimensional problem involving drug development and translational animal models. In the end, success will depend on the ability of trained investigators who have the expertise and tools to evaluate drug effects on neurocognitive systems in the clinic.
The aim of this proposed career development program is to facilitate the candidate's efforts to become a successful independent clinical investigator in this area. Primary objectives of this career development program are to provide the candidate with advanced training in three main areas: (1) functional brain imaging;(2) cognitive neuroscience and neuropharmacological models of working memory;and (3) clinical trial design and methodology. Research activities will focus on designing and conducting behavioral and event-related functional neuroimaging studies of working memory and attention using paradigms translated from animal models to examine antipsychotic treatment effects on these core cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. These activities will prepare the candidate for an independent program of research examining disturbances in functional brain systems that underlie cognitive impairments in schizophrenia and how these are impacted by antipsychotic treatments. The knowledge and skills gained from proposed training and research activities will be important for the Pi's career objective to use integrative approaches to investigate the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments developed to reduce cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.

Public Health Relevance

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder. With a prevalence of 1% of the population and billions of dollars expended annually in direct costs and lost productivity, it is a major public health concern. Cognitive symptoms, which are not adequately treated, account for much of the long-term functional disability, and the need to understand the brain basis of these deficits is imperative to advance treatments for this disorder.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23MH083126-03
Application #
7988200
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-N (02))
Program Officer
Wynne, Debra K
Project Start
2008-12-08
Project End
2011-11-30
Budget Start
2010-12-01
Budget End
2011-11-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$164,529
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Illinois at Chicago
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
098987217
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60612
Rubin, Leah H; Li, Siyi; Yao, Li et al. (2018) Peripheral oxytocin and vasopressin modulates regional brain activity differently in men and women with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 202:173-179
Reilly, James L; Hill, S Kristian; Gold, James M et al. (2017) Impaired Context Processing is Attributable to Global Neuropsychological Impairment in Schizophrenia and Psychotic Bipolar Disorder. Schizophr Bull 43:397-406
Eum, Seenae; Hill, S Kristian; Rubin, Leah H et al. (2017) Cognitive burden of anticholinergic medications in psychotic disorders. Schizophr Res 190:129-135
Rubin, Leah H; Yao, Li; Keedy, Sarah K et al. (2017) Sex differences in associations of arginine vasopressin and oxytocin with resting-state functional brain connectivity. J Neurosci Res 95:576-586
Stevenson, J M; Reilly, J L; Harris, M S H et al. (2016) Antipsychotic pharmacogenomics in first episode psychosis: a role for glutamate genes. Transl Psychiatry 6:e739
Rubin, Leah H; Connelly, Jessica J; Reilly, James L et al. (2016) Sex and diagnosis specific associations between DNA methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene with emotion processing and temporal-limbic and prefrontal brain volumes in psychotic disorders. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 1:141-151
Keedy, Sarah K; Reilly, James L; Bishop, Jeffrey R et al. (2015) Impact of antipsychotic treatment on attention and motor learning systems in first-episode schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 41:355-65
Bishop, Jeffrey R; Reilly, James L; Harris, Margret S H et al. (2015) Pharmacogenetic associations of the type-3 metabotropic glutamate receptor (GRM3) gene with working memory and clinical symptom response to antipsychotics in first-episode schizophrenia. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 232:145-54
Rubin, Leah H; Carter, C Sue; Bishop, Jeffrey R et al. (2014) Reduced levels of vasopressin and reduced behavioral modulation of oxytocin in psychotic disorders. Schizophr Bull 40:1374-84
Lencer, Rebekka; Bishop, Jeffrey R; Harris, Margret S H et al. (2014) Association of variants in DRD2 and GRM3 with motor and cognitive function in first-episode psychosis. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 264:345-55

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