Overview of Research

The Center for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress (CNDS) is devoted to investigating the mechanisms underlying individual treatment response across mood disorders including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Examined broadly, we determine how various treatments produce changes in brain activity and connectivity in order to improve treatment outcomes. 

A key part of that investigation, led by Dr. Desmond Oathes, uses targeted transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to optimize target engagement and to investigate downstream effects on resting state connectivity, visualized in the fMRI scanner. Additional TMS studies examine effects on neuropsychological test performance and effects in modulating resting state fMRI network connectivity. 

Other studies examine:

1) How transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology (e.g. rumination, negative affect, anxious arousal) in anxious misery disorders (depression, anxiety, PTSD) relate to brain structure, resting state fMRI connectivity, task-evoked fMRI brain activity, and neuropsychological performance

2) How computer-augmented cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) produces changes in resting state fMRI connectivity and task-evoked fMRI brain activity that relate to treatment response

3) How the effect of inflammatory cytokines in CSF influences treatment outcomes, brain structure, resting state fMRI connectivity, and neuropsychological performance

4) How real-time fMRI feedback can reduce negative attentional biases in depression