Preclinical Lab for Translational Research into Affective Disorders - PLATRAD (Prof. Dr. C. Pryce)

Affective neuropsychiatric illnesses are debilitating – major symptoms include dysfunctional emotional processing such as increased reactivity to and focus on aversive life events, and reduced reactivity to and motivation for the reward of life events. Understanding of the pathophysiology in the neural circuits responsible for emotional pathologies is limited, as is, therefore, the efficacy of current therapies. We conduct research with mouse models that: Increases understanding of (1) neural circuits responsible for aversion and reward processing, and (2) the effects of chronic aversion exposure on these neural circuits. (3) Identifies and validates pharmacological agents that act at molecular targets to enable recovery of neural circuits and emotional behaviour, with (4) translational validity for the treatment of emotional symptoms in human patients.