Identifying neural circuits as targets for treatment of depressive symptoms by studying commonalities between primary and secondary depressive disorders (360G-Wellcome-224922_Z_22_Z)

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Effective treatments are available, but it is difficult to predict which treatment will be effective for which patient. To better target the available effective treatments, and develop new ones, we need to understand the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of depression. This is complicated by its considerable neurobiological heterogeneity. In this project, I will focus on cases where depression develops secondarily to other medical conditions (such as stroke, inflammatory or endocrine disorders) because the pathophysiological mechanisms by which symptoms of depression develop in these cases should be neurobiologically less heterogeneous and there can be better hypotheses based on the knowledge of the biology of the underlying conditions. Specifically, I aim to identify the neural circuits which drive some of the symptoms of depression in these cases, and test whether these neural circuits are involved also in cases where depression develops without any underlying medical condition. To achieve this, I will mainly use neuroimaging techniques in combination with behavioural testing of the relevant patient populations. Identification of the neural circuits driving the symptoms of depression could help target the available effective treatments and stimulate development of novel treatments, ultimately reducing the burden of depression.