Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Depressed Adolescents

该指导以患者为导向的研究职业发展（K23）奖的总体目标是发展和提高候选人在以患者为导向的临床研究中的技能，使他成为儿童心理健康领域的独立研究人员。这一目标将通过一个综合教育、培训和完成一个关于抑郁青少年功能性神经成像的研究项目的方案来实现。候选人的主要目标是发展他在儿科情绪障碍研究方面的熟练程度，特别关注功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）的利用，以阐明特定神经解剖区域的大脑活动如何在患有重度抑郁症（MDD）的儿童和青少年中改变。为了实现这一目标，候选人将由功能和结构MRI，儿童和青少年抑郁症，实验和研究设计以及生物统计学领域的专家指导。此外，候选人将参加他所在部门的教育活动以及生物统计学，实验设计，脑成像，MRI物理学和功能性MRI数据分析领域的正式课程。拟议的研究项目的目标是研究杏仁核活动是如何改变抑郁症的女性和男性青少年与严重抑郁症相比，适当匹配的健康对照组。在奖励期结束时，候选人期望：（1）拥有成为临床研究独立研究者所需的技能;（2）作为独立研究者获得资助;（3）成为功能性MRI应用于儿童和青少年抑郁症患者科学研究的领导者。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall aim of this Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development (K23) Award is to develop and enhance the candidate's skills in patient-oriented clinical research so that he may become an independent researcher in the area of child mental health. This aim will be accomplished through a program of combined education, training, and the completion of a research project on functional neuroimaging of depressed adolescents. The candidate's major goal is to develop his proficiency in pediatric mood disorders research with a specific focus on the utilization of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to elucidate how brain activity in specific neuroanatomical regions is altered in children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). To achieve this goal, the candidate will be mentored by experts in the fields of functional and structural MRI, childhood and adolescent depression, experimental and research design, and biostatistics. The candidate furthermore will participate in educational activities in his department as well as formal coursework in the areas of biostatistics, experimental design, brain imaging, MRI physics, and functional MRI data analysis. The goal of the proposed research project is to study how amygdala activity is changed in depressed female and male adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder as compared to properly matched healthy control subjects. At the end of the award period, the candidate expects: (1) to possess the skills necessary to be an independent investigator in clinical research; (2) to have received funding as an independent investigator; and (3) to become a leader in the application of functional MRI to the scientific study of patients with childhood and adolescent depression.