Childhood Psychiatric Disorders

Researchers at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB), Associate Professor Steven Nelson (Pediatrics, MIDB Imaging Core Director) and MSI PI Christine Conelea (assistant professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; director, MIDB Neuromodulation Program) have received a Masonic Cross-Departmental Grant in Children’s Health Research. The researchers are studying the use of precision functional mapping for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in children. TMS stimulates specific locations in the brain, with the goal of improving functioning in those areas. This provides individualized treatments for each patient and has the added benefit of limited side effects. A story about the grant and this research appears on the MIDB website: MIDB Researchers Receive Award to Develop a New Approach for Individualizing Treatment of Childhood Psychiatric Disorders.

Professor Conelea uses MSI resources to support research into tic and obsessive-compulsive disorders such as Tourette Syndrome. MSI is providing support to several researchers at the MIDB, which officially opened on November 1, 2021.