The Together for Neurodiversity event was co-organized by Andreia Costa, Project Manager for Training and Career Development at Oxford Health BRC and Neurodiversity Advocate, Leandra Hamblin, founder of the blog SEntipede, and Donna Jewell, Head of Community at the Oxford Hub

Dr. Maxime Taquet, NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry won the prestigious 2024 Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biomedical Research for his project, “IMPACT-SMI,” which aims to make severe mental illness more predictable and manageable by measuring symptom fluctuations over time.

Building on the successful NIHR Connect and Grow Networking and Collaboration Event held on 10 January 2024 , a consortium of Biomedical Research Centre partners successfully applied for funding from the NIHR 2024 Infrastructure and Schools Pre-Application Support Fund. 

Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS FT, Berkshire Healthcare NHS FT/ University of Reading and Oxford Brookes University have all received funding for dedicated programmes of support and mentorship to allow NMAHPs to prepare, and submit, NIHR Fellowships.

One of  the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN) longest and largest public engagement projects, “BReal” (Building stress resilience in early adolescents’ lives) led by Univeristy of Oxford Professor Jacinta O’Shea, released a three-lesson pack of materials on stress resilience for year 7-9 students, available as free downloads from the project website. Slide decks, lesson plans, worksheets, teacher guidance etc are all included.

The materials are designed for use in PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) classes and have been accredited by the PSHE Association’s Quality Mark scheme.

A new study published in Lancet Psychiatry has revealed that many people who were hospitalised with COVID-19 continue to have cognitive and psychiatric problems even two to three years post-infection.

Conducted by researchers in the OH BRC Molecular Targets Theme, the research highlights the persistent and significant nature of these symptoms as well as the emergence of new symptoms years after COVID-19 was first present.

Researchers in the Dementia theme completed a study to measure the proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the blood. They found that the levels of these proteins were related to the degree of cognitive impairment, measured on a new online cognitive testing platform called OCTAL which they have developed.

In a ground breaking medical achievement, a young boy has become the first person to receive a revolutionary epilepsy device, significantly reducing seizure frequency and severity.  The study partnership responsible for developing the device involved University of Oxford researchers from the OH BRC’s Brain Technologies Theme, Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London and King’s College Hospital.

An integrated research and clinical treatment centre has been launched in Oxford. The Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) Research Clinic – Oxford in collaboration with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) partners and builds upon the experiences of the successful AnDY Research Clinic – Reading (University of Reading/Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust).

The clinic will provide high quality assessments and treatment for patients, who will have improved access to research opportunities. This will in turn enable the development of better assessment and treatment approaches that can be rapidly implemented to provide better care for patients. It will also enable us to create a blueprint for further scaling through a national network of AnDY clinics.

The University of Oxford’s Experimental Psychology Associate Professor Miriam Klein-Flugge, along with Lilian Weber and Johannes Algermissen and others from the DT Theme, hosted a workshop in Plymouth on transcranial ultrasound stimulation techniques. The aim was to cover the fundamentals and applications of these techniques, and showcase their promising therapeutic potential for a range of brain disorders.

Transcranial ultrasound stimulation is a brain stimulation technique at an early stage of clinical translation. It uses a transducer (like a loudspeaker) to deliver an acoustic pressure wave to the brain. Our researchers (Klein-Flugge) have shown that TUS can reach deep areas in the brain that other stimulation techniques cannot.

The workshop was a huge success, attracting people from across Europe and Asia, and was over-subscribed so will be running again next year.

The Depression Therapeutics theme have formed a group of public members – Jane, Roger, Mike and Vanessa – who are interested in experimental depression research, to lead Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) activities within the theme. The idea is that they will become embedded in the theme, getting to know the different research groups, and collaborating and offering input from an early stage of research. In January, they met with Amy Gillespie – PPI lead for the theme – for an introduction to Depression Therapeutics, discussing the methodologies used and the ways they could get involved. They then attended a social event with researchers, to talk and share their motivations for getting involved and start to build connections.

The Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) Research Clinic in Oxford now has 14 members of staff in post, led by Dr Ray Percy (Clinic Director), including clinicians from Oxford Health CAMHS and clinical researchers from the TOPIC Research Group at the University. A number of members of the team were excited to meet during December at the University of Oxford to get to know each other, see their new office space in New Radcliffe House, and to plan for clinic launch in early 2024.

It has been a great pleasure to introduce some of Oxfordshire’s older adults to health research.  With members of the Leys CDI Clockhouse Project, we have enjoyed the health benefits of being together and learning new things at the Harcourt Arboretum and Ashmolean Museum; several Clockhouse Project members then got involved in shaping our research. We have also spread the word about brain health in Wallingford’s dementia-friendly community; in care homes, at leisure groups and at public events. We are very grateful to many of Wallingford’s carers who have involved themselves in our research, especially those who sit on the PPI Advisory Group for the Brain Health Clinic.

For the first time a virtual reality treatment (VR) has been recommended for use in NHS mental health services. The automated VR treatment enables patients who are largely housebound with agoraphobia to practise re-entering everyday situations.  NICE early value assessment recommends gameChange VR Therapy developed by Professor Freeman’s team for use in the NHS.

High levels of two proteins at the time of COVID-19 have been found in patients who later experienced cognitive problems, including ‘brain fog’.  The findings give a major clue as to one cause of their symptoms: blood clots. In a paper published in Nature Medicine, they identified two separate profiles of biomarkers.

Dr Sana Suri and colleagues developed a novel dementia risk score, recently published in the BMJ – Mental Health journal. The score, developed using data from the UK, significantly outperformed existing tools in identifying future cases of dementia. Crucially, the score draws on several modifiable factors including diabetes, depression, and high blood pressure, highlighting the importance of promoting lifestyle modifications to reduce risk. While future developments are required to take the score to large-scale clinical use, it represents a key step towards a risk assessment tool tailored to the UK.

A study (STOP-PTSD) which aimed to investigate whether a novel internet-delivered cognitive therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was published in Lancet Psychiatry (A. Ehlers et al.)  The study showed that internet-delivered cognitive therapy for PTSD is highly effective and leads to better outcomes than a comprehensive internet-delivered CBT programme focusing on coping strategies.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) early value assessment recommends 4 digitally enabled therapies developed by Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC) researchers for use in the NHS: cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder for adults (iCT-SAD) and adolescents (OSCA), cognitive therapy for PTSD (iCT-PTSD) (Professors Clark and Ehlers’ team) and Online Support and Intervention (OSI) for child anxiety (Professor Creswell’s team).

Clark’s team who developed the treatment with support from the Wellcome Trust and Oxford Health BRC published three randomised controlled trials showing that the treatment leads to very large improvement and achieves the same outcomes as face-to-face cognitive therapy, which is recommended by NICE as the first-line intervention for social anxiety disorder. The clinical benefit per hour of therapist time was twice as large for the internet-delivered treatment compared to face-to-face therapy.

The Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (OH CRF) has been awarded more than £4 million over the next five years by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The OH CRF is one of 28 facilities across England to benefit from nearly £161 million that has been awarded to expand early phase clinical research delivery in NHS hospitals.

‘Count me in’ was launched in August 2021 after Oxford Health BRC studies showed that asking clinical staff to collect research contact consent was resulting in a low uptake from patients, and that both staff and patients favoured an approach that allowed all patients to be contacted about relevant research unless they had opted out. Preliminary findings published in a letter published in the journal Evidence Based Mental Health showed the project is having a positive effect on research recruitment.

An Oxford Health BRC study showed that 37% of people had at least one long-COVID symptom diagnosed in the 3-6 month period after COVID-19 infection, with the commonest symptoms being breathing problems, abdominal symptoms, fatigue, pain and anxiety/depression. The Study investigated long-COVID in over 270,000 people recovering from COVID-19 infection, using data from the US-based TriNetX electronic health record network

Oxford Health BRC took part in the In2Science programme. This is a scheme that gives young people from a range of backgrounds the opportunity to spend time with and learn from people working in research and to find out more about a career in science. Dr Jessica Scaife, a postdoctoral researcher at the Oxford Health BRC, mentored 3 young people as part of the programme.

Professor Catherine Harmer appeared on the BBC Radio 4 podcast ‘Made of Stronger Stuff’ challenging misconceptions about depression and providing up-to-date information on what serotonin does in the brain.

The Oxford cognitive health Clinical Research Facility celebrated International Clinical Trials Day with a new video showcasing the Facility and its capabilities.

An Oxford Health BRC study reported that the risk of the rare blood clotting known as cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) following COVID-19 infection is around 100 times greater than normal, several times higher than it is post-vaccination or following influenza.

A blog in thebmjopinion by mental health clinicians and researchers at Oxford Health BRC discussed COVID-19 vaccinations and where people with mental health difficulties lie within the order of priority.

A study undertaken by an interdisciplinary team at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, showed that an ‘opt-out’ approach to research recruitment could benefit both clinical research and patient care.

Researchers from Oxford Health BRC reported the first large-scale evidence that COVID-19 survivors are at an increased risk of psychiatric disorders. The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, used the TriNetX electronic health records of 69 million people in the USA including over 62,000 cases of COVID-19 and received widespread international media coverage.

Oxford Health BRC investigators took a lead role in PHOSP-COVID – a major UK research study which will investigate the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients. The Oxford Health team have provided expertise in mental health and neurological problems following COVID-19 infection.

Researchers from the Oxford Precision Psychiatry Lab responded to COVID-19 by creating vital evidence-based guidance for patients and clinicians managing mental health conditions during the pandemic. Frequently updated, this guidance summarises the best available clinical guidelines about key COVID-19 questions that are faced by frontline mental health professionals every day.

Oxford mental health researchers published new guidelines and free resources for treating patients experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to deliver psychological therapies remotely. Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders (OxCADAT) delivered NHS England workshops and therapist guidance for delivering psychological therapies for anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic grief remotely and materials published on the free OxCADAT resources website.

Oxford Health BRC took part in an exhibition showcasing groundbreaking NIHR research has been launched in Oxford. ‘The Body Unlocked: how research is changing lives’ is an ongoing exhibition which features life-sized photographs of people who have taken part in studies, as well as researchers at work and microscopic images of cells and bacteria.

The Oxford Precision Psychiatry Lab is an international multidisciplinary group of researchers, clinicians (both psychiatrists and psychologists), statisticians, methodologists and students who are passionate about improving the lives of people with mental illness across the lifespan.

The Emerging Minds network launched with kick off events across the UK including Belfast, Glasgow, Bristol, Cambridge, Birmingham, Newcastle, London, Swansea and Manchester attended by over 250 researchers, practitioners lived experience experts and policy makers. The Network works across sectors and disciplines to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems experienced by children and young people.

Akrivia Health, a spinout from Oxford Health BRC, was developed as a sustainable way to accelerate the UK-CRIS programme. The UK-CRIS network operates a managed service for secure access to one of the world’s largest repositories of de-identified patient data relating to mental health and dementia conditions.

A systematic review and meta-analysis showed that cannabis use among adolescents is associated with a significant increased risk of depression and suicidality in adulthood (not anxiety). While the individual-level risk was found to be modest, the widespread use of the drug by young people makes the scale of the risk much more serious.

Alongside the the publication of our Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Strategy, we launched a short animated film to answer key questions about our patient and public involvement work and our vision to embed it into our research themes.

NIHR awarded £4 million to a project to enable state-of-the-art psychological therapy to be delivered via virtual reality (VR) in the NHS. The project, led by Professor Daniel Freeman brings together a team of NHS trusts, universities, a mental health charity, the Royal College of Art, and a University of Oxford spin-out company.

The Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders (OxCADAT) created a website of free resources and training videos for therapists on how to treat social anxiety disorder, panic disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder with the cognitive therapy programmes developed by the team

Professor Daniel Freeman, consultant clinical psychologist at Oxford Health NHS Foundation, was awarded a major research grant to study how VR can help with persecutory delusions. Professor Freeman was awarded the grant together with his colleagues, Professors David Clark (University of Oxford), Mel Slater (University of Barcelona) and Graham Dunn (University of Manchester) and is part of the BRC precision psychological therapies theme.