Neurotransmitter Function, Psychiatric Disorders, & MRS

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This workshop will be focused primarily on psychiatric disorders, including mood disorders, schizophrenia, and abuse of substances such as alcohol and nicotine. The workshop has three primary goals: (1) Exchange of ideas and information between investigators involved primarily in technical development and those focused on neuropsychiatric research. (2) Technical education for psychiatric applications researchers. (3) Psychopharmacologic and etiologic education for technically oriented researchers. Attendees will include established researchers from technical and applications areas, but a special emphasis will be made to encourage attendance and participation by young investigators. METHODS: The program will include an international roster of speakers in a two and a half-day symposium. The audience is expected to include 150-250 researchers from around the world. The proposed meeting dates are October 13-15. The proposed agenda will include 2 main topics: Neurotransmitter function in neuropsychiatric disorders: pathophysiology and role in treatment, and Methods of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS). A general outline for the two and a half day meeting is: Introductory Lecture night before conference: Very basics of MRS: What is spin? What is shimming? How do we get a signal? Plenary Presentations What do we need to know about psychiatric disorders? How can imaging in general and spectroscopy in particular, help us learn more about key problem area? Review of neurocircuitry and neurotransmitter function related to psychiatric disorders. Plenary Sessions on each of the MRS methods and psychiatric applications: Teaching talks (30" each) followed by proffered, reviewed papers on current research (10 min each), concluding with open discussion. New Directions and Applications to Treatment: Talks on clinical applications, transition from basic research to pharmaceutical industry. COMMENTS: Topics will include predictors of diagnosis and treatment success; markers for treatment; neurocircuitry; intracellular targets; gene expression, etc. A call for abstracts will bring forward names and ideas from other groups that might be added to the main program. Young Investigator travel awards form an important part of this program. The editor of NMR in Biomedicine, Chris Boesch, has agreed to consider publishing peer-reviewed papers on cutting-edge work presented in the sessions in the conference. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is an imaging technology whose cutting edge applications can pose an intimidating technological barrier to clinical researchers, and our knowledge of neurotransmitter function and regulation has reached a point at which technically trained MRS researchers may lack knowledge of clinical applications and associate issues to apply their advanced techniques. This workshop will promote the cross-education of investigators from both areas, which is necessary to maximize the opportunities for and quality of translational research on neurotransmitter function in psychiatric disorders.