Welcome to TransPsych Lab @ NIMHANS!

      Translational Neuroscience is the research theme of the Cognitive Neurobiology Division, Neurobiology Research Centre – a central research facility at NIMHANS. Translational Psychiatry Laboratory (TransPsych Lab), within the Cognitive Neurobiology Division, is an integrated clinical research facility with focus on translational approaches in psychiatry – transforming “bench observations” to “bed-side applications”.

    World Health Organization lists psychiatric disorders like Schizophrenia among the most disabling medical diseases.  Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized behaviour and progressive cognitive deficits, whose pathophysiology remains unclear. Current research focus of TransPsych Lab is to evaluate the clinical implications as well as systems biology interactions within the translational research paradigm in psychiatry with specific focus on schizophrenia.  In addition, various other psychiatric disorders that are being researched in our lab include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Alcohol Dependence Syndrome, Autism and Late Onset Depression.  The overarching long-term research goal of our lab is to formulate translationally relevant etiopathogenetic models of psychiatric disorders informed by developmental & evolutionary neurosciences.

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    Our team comprises of multi-disciplinary & multi-faceted scientists who come from various backgrounds - life sciences, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychiatric social work & psychology.  The team members are also part of specialty clinics at NIMHANS namely –  The Schizophrenia Clinic, The Metabolic Clinic in Psychiatry of the InSTAR Program and the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Clinic. Within NIMHANS, our collaborative research studies involve faculties from the departments of Psychiatry, Neurovirology, Neuroimaging & Interventional Radiology, Human Genetics, Biostatistics, Neuropathology, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,

Psychiatric Social Work and Clinical Psychology. Our external collaborators include Dr. Matcheri Keshavan (Harvard, Boston), Dr. Samuel Hutton (University of Sussex, Brighton), Dr. David Mataix-cols (Institute of Psychiatry, London) and Dr. Arindam Maitra (NIBMG, Kolkata).
   
    Current studies at the TransPsych Lab attempt to evaluate composite biomarkers that underlie the neuroimmunological & neurotrophic aberrations reflective of neurodevelopmental pathogenesis in schizophrenia. These studies on Schizophrenia aim at integrating various endo-

 phenotypes with neurobiological parameters.  Studies on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder focus on understanding the clinical & pathogenetic correlates of brain abnormalities in this disorder and their endophenotypic validity. Research techniques that we use include clinical / neurocognitive analyses,evaluation of markers of aberrant neurodevelopment like dermatoglyphics/digit ratio, brain imaging (structural MRI, functional MRI, DTI & MRS), eye tracking, EEG/ERP, tDCS, neurochemical & immunological assays, gene polymorphism & expression studies.  These biological studies are complemented by psycho-social research assessments & intervention studies to facilitate holistic understanding of psychiatric disorders.   
    TransPsych Lab is supported by several research awards including Wellcome Trust / DBT India Alliance Senior Fellowship, Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award as well as Centre of Excellence & Innovation in Biotechnology (CEIB) Programme Support from the Department of Biotechnology and the INSPIRE Scheme from the Department of Science & Technology.