A seminar co-hosted by the Bristol Neuroscience Research Network and the School of Psychological Science, with support from the British Neuroscience Association

Organisers: Dr Paul Anastasiades (Bristol Medical School), Dr Seán Froudist-Walsh (School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology) and Dr Edwin Dalmaijer (School of Psychological Science)

Abstract: To survive, organisms maintain homeostasis by predicting, detecting, and regulating the internal state of their body. Many neuropsychiatric disorders show profound disruptions in homeostatic processes, including motivational drive, appetite, and interoception. This talk will outline how cognitive neuroscience could inform novel treatment development targeting bodily signals or their interpretation for mental health disorders, and how to move research from discovery science into early clinical trials. I will discuss two recent attempts: an experimental medicine study in healthy controls (Nord & Dalmaijer et al, 2021 Current Biology), and a neuroimaging analysis of interoceptive datasets in a transdiagnostic psychiatric population (Nord et al., 2021 The American Journal of Psychiatry). I will then outline how experimental work informs broader theoretical perspectives on the role of interoception in mental health treatment (Nord & Garfinkel, 2022, Trends in Cognitive Sciences), including the possibility for novel augmentative treatment strategies informed by basic cognitive science (Nord et al., 2023, Nature Mental Health).  

Camilla Nord leads the Mental Health Neuroscience programme of research at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. They work to answer questions like: what changes in our brain during periods of mental ill-health? How does the way our brains process the world, including the physical body, make us susceptible to developing a mental health disorder? And finally, how can we capitalise on the tools of neuroscience - brain imaging, brain stimulation, computational modelling, among others - to improve our ability to treat mental health disorders?

ALL WELCOME

To book a 1:1 with the speaker, please contact Edwin Dalmaijer. Note there are limited slots available and they will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Early Career Researchers: Journal Club and lunch with the Speaker special!

The day before the talk BN will be hosting a journal club aimed at Early Career Researchers who will spend 1-2 hours exploring and discussing one of the speaker's publications. Participants of the journal club are then invited to have lunch with the speaker the day of the seminar. Spaces are strictly limited! If you are an ECR, and would like to take part, please contact Sean Froudist-Walsh <sean.froudist-walsh@bristol.ac.uk> with your expression of interest.