Published: 03-05-2021 16:34 | Updated: 03-05-2021 16:34

A new project receives StratNeuro 2021 Startup Grant

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Photo: iStock

StratNeuro has awarded SEK 1,000,000 in start-up grant to Kristoffer Månsson, who was granted a 2020 faculty-funded Assistant Professor (biträdande lektor) position.

The StratNeuro Start-up Grant is intended to support outstanding Neuroscience researchers at the beginning of their careers, who have received a VR starting grant or a Karolinska Institutet assistant professor grant.

Kristoffer Månsson, Department of Clinical Neuroscience

Investigating neural response variability as a single-patient predictor of successful cognitive-behavioral therapy in clinical psychiatry.

Black and white portrait of Kristoffer Månsson sitting with his hands resting in his lap, smiling at the camera.
Kristoffer Månsson. Photo: Ulrica Zwenger

We got in touch with Kristoffer and asked him to tell us a little more.

Kristoffer, briefly describe your project!

"A considerable proportion of psychiatric patients do not respond to current treatments – and I want to know who they are and why that is. To achieve this, we will investigate moment-to-moment variability in brain signals. Temporal variability is typically considered unwanted “noise”, but neural variability continues to gain momentum as a sensitive and reliable indicator of individual differences and neural efficacy."

Why is this grant important for you and for your research?

"This start-up grant is, of course, a fantastic opportunity, and it is also important to acknowledge the cross-talk between pre- and clinical research. Multi-disciplinary research will improve outcomes and will lead to a better understanding of our patients. StratNeuro could be one of these important bridges for my lab and future students and colleagues."

Is anyone else involved in the project?

"I would probably need to write a very long paragraph and list to mention all currently ongoing projects and collaborators. One key person to acknowledge, however, is my post-doc supervisor Douglas D Garrett at Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. Furthermore, he will remain a close collaborator for me and my lab."

How can your research influence patient care and treatment?

"The ultimate goal of my research is to improve clinical decision-making and increase precision in treatment for common psychiatric disorders. I am confident that we eventually can get to this point, but there is still a lot that needs to be done before we understand these predictions models well enough to implement them in clinical practice."

Which patient group will benefit from the research and how?

"My previous research and interest for patients with social anxiety disorder remains, and I am also planning extend our investigations to major depressive disorder. However, our research model is applicable to many other related diseases and we could eventually expand to other disorders in the future."

What are your future plans?

"The first step will be to establish the lab and recruit a devoted team of people interested in novel methods in clinical neuroscience. The years to come will be productive and lots of fun!"

Contact

Vasco Sousa Research Specialist