Welcome to the Immunopsychiatry Research Group

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About InPsych

The immunopsychiatry research group is based at the University of Bristol within the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit and the Centre for Academic Mental Health.  The group investigates the role of inflammation in psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopment, cognition, and in physical and psychiatric multimorbidity across the life course using population data, genetics, and early-phase clinical trials. The aim of our work is to identify and validate novel immunological mechanisms and treatment options for psychiatric disorders, with a focus on depression and schizophrenia. This work is clinically important because depression and schizophrenia affect one in four people in lifetime, but one in three people affected by these illnesses do not respond to currently available treatments.

The group is led by Golam Khandaker, Professor of Psychiatry at Bristol Medical School, Head of Translational Mental Health Programme at the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

We are happy to hear from people interested in mental health research including prospective students, staff, collaborators, study participants, the media, and people with lived experience of mental illness.

Research Projects

Funded by the Wellcome Trust, the InPsych group is currently investigating the role of low-grade inflammation, particularly IL-6 and other circulating inflammatory markers, in pathogenesis of depression and schizophrenia.

The Insight Study

Effect of IL-6 inhibition in inflamed depression
 

Mendelian Randomisation Study

Causal relationships between IL-6/IL-6R pathways, depression and schizophrenia

Research Overview

Current research in the InPsych group is focused on the role of low-grade inflammation (cytokines, genes and peripheral immune cells) in depression and schizophrenia. We use epidemiological population-based cohort studies to examine causes and psychiatric consequences of inflammation. Identifying early-life predictors of illness is helpful for developing appropriate strategies for prevention, early detection and intervention.

We use clinical studies to gain a better understanding of psychiatric patients who display evidence of low-grade inflammation. We use clinical trials to examine the effect of immune-modulating drugs on cognition, mood and psychosis. This work may help to inform a more personalised approach to treatment of major psychiatric disorders.

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Featured News

Anti-inflammatory drugs might someday treat depression

October 18, 2016

In the future, a new class of anti-inflammatory drugs could be used to treat depression, say University of Cambridge researchers.
 

A New Key to Understanding Depression

August 14, 2014

Scientists are studying alternative explanations for complicated conditions like depression, and researchers from the University of Cambridge are...

The Team

InPsych is a research group with bright ideas and talented staff. We welcome queries from prospective PhD students, staff and interns. To find out more about group members click below.

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Publication

Notable publications from the InPsych group have appeared in JAMA Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry and The Lancet Psychiatry.

 

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Collaborations

The InPsych group has longstanding collaborations with researchers in the UK, rest of Europe and USA, and with population-based cohorts from the UK and abroad.
 

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Contact Us

We are happy to hear from prospective group members, research collaborators, participants, media, patients and others. Email: info@immunopsychiatry.com

Our address

Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit
University of Bristol
Oakfield House
Oakfield Grove
Bristol
BS8 2BN
United Kingdom

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