RESEARCH TRAINING IN JUVENILE BIPOLAR DISORDER

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): The proposed Mentored Scientist Development Award For New Minority Faculty outlines a program of career development and research in psychopharmacology and neuroimaging of juveniles with bipolar disorder. A focus of this program will be a clinical trial with a mood-stabilizer (divalproex sodium) in a group of children and adolescents diagnosed with bipolar illness. The correlation of treatment outcome with brain glutamate, y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and choline as measured by in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) will be attempted to identify biological predictor factors of treatment response. The candidate hypothesizes that there will be a significant correlation between an increase in cerebral GABA as measured by integrated areas under the curve and a decrease in symptom response to divalproex sodium as measured by the Young/Fristad Mania Rating Scale (MRS) and the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) rating scale. Implications of this award may be the evaluation of the safety and efficacy of a mood stabilizer in prepubertal and adolescent mania, and the broadening of our clinical knowledge and biological correlates of this disorder in juveniles. The candidate has received preliminary training in clinical pharmacology and brain imaging. The research plan is designed to enable the candidate to develop greater expertise in the development of clinical pediatric psychopharmacology trials and neuroimaging applied to clinical psychiatry. The five-year career development plan includes didactic instruction in pharmacokinetics and clinical research at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and brain imaging at The Division of Brain Mapping of the UCLA School of Medicine. The proposed training would include courses in biostatistics, computer science, ethics, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, pharmacokinetics, statistical analysis, and a modified fellowship curriculum in brain mapping. The program provides the opportunities to learn conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques applicable to the candidate's specific area of clinical interest (i.e., mood disorders). In addition to furthering the candidate's transition to independent research, the proposed study would also contribute to our knowledge of pharmacological treatment and possible neurobiological markers of juvenile bipolar disorder.