CMIC/WEISS Seminar Series

Title:  Connecting the brain with body in neuroimaging research and its implication in neuropsychiatry

Abstract: The brain is intricately interconnected with the body and other organ systems via nervous, circulatory and lymphatic networks. Not only does the brain control the body, the health and functioning of the human brain are also constantly influenced by other organ systems, via direct and indirect biochemical and neural pathways. Integrated research into brain and body systems holds substantial clinical potential in addressing multimorbidity and physical illness burden in people with neuropsychiatric disorders. In the first part of my talk, I will introduce a multiorgan ageing network to demonstrate how the ageing of one organ system selectively and characteristically influences the ageing of other brain and body systems. I will show multiorgan ageing profiles for 16 chronic brain and body disorders and demonstrate how can advanced organ ageing predict mortality. In the second part of my talk, I will present a multiorgan, system-wide characterisation of brain and body health for 4 common neuropsychiatric disorders. I will show that individuals diagnosed with these neuropsychiatric disorders are not only characterised by deviations from normative reference ranges for brain phenotypes but also present considerably poorer physical health across multiple body systems compared to their healthy peers. I will show that poor physical health is a more pronounced manifestation of neuropsychiatric illness compared to brain changes. To close the talk, I will call for integrated and holistic mental and physical health in psychiatry.

Speaker’s Bio: Dr Ye Ella Tian is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne. She is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist by training and holds a PhD in systems neuroscience. She works at the interface between neuroscience, computation and translational research of applying brain imaging techniques to clinical research. She leads the development of the now widely used Melbourne Subcortex Atlas. She currently holds the Mary Lugton Postdoc Fellowship, studying brain-body relationships in mental illness across the lifespan. 

Chair: James Cole

Wed 07 June at 1.00 pm at the Function Space – 1^st High Holborn online via ZOOM (link below)

Link to the Moodle page here: https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=19613  
Please enrol with key: CMIC
Alternatively, you can use the zoom link below to go direct to the seminar: https://ucl.zoom.us/j/99464005163?pwd=ZFdURkJ4TjJIeGVhbXpTclhuNE9WUT09