Translational Neuroinflammation Group

Psychiatric conditions such as mood and cognitive disorders are areas of major unmet clinical need. Development of therapeutics has lagged behind other fields due to a lack of mechanistically specific biomarkers, a dearth of tractable molecular targets and of predictive animal models.

Our research aims to understand how inflammatory molecules from intracerebral and extracerebral cellular sources impact on neural cells and circuitry and thus change behaviour. We are also testing novel molecular targets with a view to translational pathways to therapeutics.

The preclinical experimental science component of the group examines the contribution of inflammatory molecules to immune cell migration to the brain, neural cell change and metabolism and the impact these have on behaviour.

The clinical experimental medicine component uses human neuroimaging technology to explore the relationship between immune mediated inflammation and neural circuits. Specifically, we are examining the effects of cytokine antagonism on reward circuity and glutamate levels in clinical populations using high-field strength MRI (7T).