Newsletter “To advance education and research in the science of for the public benefit”

June 2012 2012 Summer Meeting, Sunday 22 to Wednesday 25 July, Harrogate International Centre

Full details of sessions are on the website, together with registration facilities http://bap.org.uk/summermeetinghome.php?meetingID=5

Highlights:

The 2012 Guest Lecture, presented by Dr Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Plenary Mental Health Session, “The best treatment for treatment-resistant patients with psychiatric disorders and possibilities for developing clinical research”, including presentations from Stephen Stahl, Guy Goodwin, Gavin Malloch and Kathryn Adcock

9 invited symposia covering cutting-edge clinical and non-clinical psychopharmacology: Drugs as tools in : Ketamine; New tricks for old drugs: Opiates, addiction and beyond; Advances in understanding brain corticosteroid responses to stress: relevance to depression; Cognitive impairment in depression: A target for treatment?; New treatment strategies for targeting drug addictions – A translational perspective; Functional imaging markers for monitoring treatment: Mechanisms and efficacy; Schizophrenia Treatment: What’s wrong with it and what might work better; Epigenetics and psychiatry - current understanding and therapeutic potential; Rethinking the compulsive aspects of addiction: From bench to bedside

2 dedicated Poster Sessions Post-doc Symposium, “Neurodevelopmental models of psychiatric disease: back to the future” Satellite Symposia and BAP Special Session Conference Dinner including presentation of the 2012 Prizes and Awards

British Association for Psychopharmacology

36 Cambridge Place • Hills Road • Cambridge • CB2 1NS Tel: 01223 358 395 • Fax: 01223 321 268 • www.bap.org.uk

Executive Officer Mrs Susan Chandler • [email protected] Assistant to the Executive Officer Mrs Lynne Harmer • [email protected] Education Co-ordinator & Digital Media Developer Ms Sarah Channing-Wright • Tel: 01223 358 396 • [email protected] 2012 Election for Officers and Council

The following vacancies will arise on BAP Council in July:

President-elect

Professor Barbara Sahakian will become President

Two Council posts become vacant

(Post 7) This post has been vacant since 2011 due to Dr Paula Moran’s election to the post of Secretary for Preclinical External Affairs (Post 8) Professor Carmine Pariante will retire

The BAP aims to represent the interests of all psychopharmacologists (preclinical, clinical and industrial) regardless of gender or ethnic origins. To achieve this it is essential that Council represents all constituents of the BAP. Council asks Members to bear this in mind when casting their votes, to ensure a balance of expertise.

President-elect

The following nomination has been received and is valid: Nominee Proposed by Seconded by Professor Paul Harrison Professor Nicol Ferrier Professor Barbara Sahakian

No further nominations were received so Professor Paul Harrison will become President-elect at the 2012 Annual General Meeting

Two Council posts

The following nominations have been received and are valid (in alphabetical order): Nominee Proposed by Seconded by Dr Oliver Howes Professor Professor Gavin Reynolds Professor Peter Jones Professor Barbara Sahakian Professor Nicol Ferrier Dr James Stone Professor Allan Young Dr Mitul Mehta

Full, Honorary and Retired Full Members are encouraged to use their votes. Nominee statements and the ballot form are on the website. Deadline Monday 16 July.

2 June 12 2012 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MONDAY 23 JULY HARROGATE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE 17:30 – 18:30 Chaired by Professor Jo Neill, Meetings Secretary

1. Presidential Address Professor Nicol Ferrier

2. Motions for approval:

2.1 That the Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting be adopted as a correct record Professor Nicol Ferrier

2.2. That the Editor’s Report be received Professor David Nutt

2.3. That the Trustees/Directors Annual Report and audited accounts for the period 1 January to 31 December 2011 be received and adopted Professor Catherine Harmer

2.4. That the Honorary General Secretary’s Report be received Dr Peter Haddad

2.5 That the Governance Panel’s Report be received Professor Charles Marsden

3. Discussion chaired by Professor Jo Neill

4. Presidential Medal passed to Professor Barbara Sahakian

The 2011 audited Accounts are enclosed with this Newsletter and available on the Members’ pages of the website.

The Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting are available to view on the Members’ pages of the website.

All BAP Members registered for the Summer Meeting in Harrogate are encouraged to attend the Annual General Meeting.

June 12 3 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award BARRY EVERITT

The BAP Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to an individual in recognition of the following three criteria: (i) Lifetime achievement in psychopharmacology with an international recognition of contribution and impact; (ii) Major contribution to British psychopharmacology; (iii) Support for and contributions to the British Association for Psychopharmacology

The BAP Council is delighted to announce that the 2012 Award will be made to Professor Barry Everitt.

Barry has worked in the area of Psychopharmacology for more than 40 years and continues his research as Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience, . He is also Master of Downing College, Cambridge. He has published 377 papers and his h-index is 94. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007 and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2008.

Barry served as President of the European Brain and Behaviour Society (1998-2000) and of the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (2003-2005). He was Elected Foreign Corresponding Member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 1999. He has been an ISI “Highly Cited” Researcher since 2004 and he is frequently invited to give plenary lectures at major international conferences. He has acted as advisor on Psychopharmacology to several counties including Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and France. He was recently awarded the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions (2011) and the 2012 FENS EJN Award (given in recognition of “outstanding scientific work in all areas of neuroscience”)

Barry’s research has contributed immensely to our understanding of the neural mechanisms of reward mechanisms, drug-seeking behavior and relapse. His work has had a tremendous impact on the field, for example he is among the world’s 100 most highly cited neuroscientists. He has been and is in receipt of programme grant funding from major UK competitive grant awarding bodies.

Barry served on the Medical Research Council (MRC) Neurosciences Grants Committee from1990 to1994 and on the MRC Research Studentships Panel from 1994 to1997 (Chair, 1995-1997). He was on the MRC Advisory Board from 1997 to 2000 and the MRC Neurosciences and Mental Health Board (2001-2005). He has also served on many editorial boards including: - Science (Reviewing Editor (2005-), Physiology & Behaviour - Editor-in-Chief (1994-1999), Psychopharmacology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Behavioural Pharmacology, Journal of Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

Barry is a longstanding member of BAP and member of Council (1984-1996). As Secretary in 1986 he recruited Susan Chandler and he was BAP President 1992-1994. Barry has made major contributions to the organisation of BAP conferences (including hosting joint meetings) and has been a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Psychopharmacology since its inception.

We are delighted that Barry will accept the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at the conference dinner in Harrogate on Tuesday 24 July.

4 June 12 2012 Robert Kerwin International Conference Bursaries

We were very pleased to receive applications from a number of BAP Members. The 2012 Awards were made to Michael Browning (Oxford), to attend the Anxiety Disorders Association of America Annual Conference, and Christoph Anacker (London), to attend the Society of Biological Psychiatry Annual Conference in May 2013.

Meeting Report from Michael Browning:

I was honoured to be awarded a Robert Kerwin International Bursary to support my attendance at the annual meeting of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America which took place in Washington between 12 - 15 April.

I am an academic Psychiatrist based in Oxford where I completed a PhD under the supervision of Catherine Harmer, Emily Holmes and Guy Goodwin. I had previously completed my psychiatric training in London and Oxford. Following my PhD I worked for a further year in the Department of Psychiatry in Oxford and have recently moved to the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) centre in the John Radcliffe hospital where I work with Sonia Bishop. My research has examined the neurocognitive mechanisms by which the treatments for anxiety and depression are thought to work. I use behavioural and techniques to try and understand how treatments are able to alter information processing habits in non-clinical and clinical populations. The direction of my research was inspired by the work of two of my supervisors; Catherine Harmer who has examined the cognitive mechanisms of antidepressant medications and Emily Holmes who has pioneered the use of “Cognitive Bias Modification” (CBM) procedures which are simple computer based tasks which alter cognitive habits through learning. These two very different forms of intervention have been found to improve symptoms of anxiety and also appear to have similar effects on cognitive function. My research initially examined the neural mechanisms by which CBM alters cognition. This revealed that, in contrast to antidepressant medication which alters amygdala function, CBM exerts an initial effect on cognition by influencing frontal brain areas. This finding raised an interesting supplementary question; if the two interventions produce similar changes in cognitive habit by actions on distinct neural systems, what effect is produced when the two interventions are combined? In other words, does addition of antidepressant medication to CBM lead to additive or interference effects on cognitive function? I addressed this question in a subsequent behavioural study which demonstrated that when the two interventions were added together they had a smaller cognitive effect than when they were administered separately. Thus, from a cognitive perspective at least, the combination of antidepressant medication and CBM was less effective than either of the interventions given on its own.

Generally, there was quite a bit of interest in CBM research at the conference with lots of separate research groups getting to grips with it as an experimental tool to examine the cognitive aetiology of anxiety, and as a possible therapeutic intervention for anxious and depressed patients. The specific symposium at which I was talking included four presentations on the neurocognitive mechanisms of CBM and was well attended, and I think, well received.

I am very grateful to the BAP for giving me this bursary to attend the ADAA meeting. The opportunity to present my work to an international audience of clinical and basic researchers was invaluable. The transition from a junior to an independent researcher can be challenging and, by allowing me to disseminate the results of my research, the Robert Kerwin bursary has (hopefully) helped me in this process.

June 12 5 ECNP School of Neuropsychopharmacology – July, Oxford

The ECNP School of Neuropsychopharmacology offers a select number of participants a week-long programme of intensive training in all aspects of neuropsychopharmacology: from its fundamentals to the use of medications in individual indications, good clinical practice and optimal treatment and algorithms.

BAP was pleased to nominate attendees for the fourth School being held in Oxford in July. Following a competitive application process, James Currie, Lindsey Sinclair and Adegboyega Sapara will take part in the 2012 ECNP School.

New BAP staff member

Sarah Channing-Wright has been appointed to BAP as Education Co-ordinator and Digital Media Developer. She will work on a part-time basis alongside Susan Chandler and Lynne Harmer. Sarah has an MA in publishing and has won an award for developing an NHS website. She was one of a number of applicants for the post and was the unanimous choice of the interview panel. Sarah will work with the Director of Education, Dr Hamish McAllister-Williams, specifically on the Online CPD Resource but also other education projects.

BAP Online CPD Resource

Launched 12 months ago, the Online CPD Resource has had a very successful first year with 200 individual subscribers and over 300 subscribed by their Trust. The Director of Education’s full report will be included in the next Newsletter.

2012 BAP Psychopharmacology Awards The Review Panel, comprising BAP Council Members, had an extremely difficult task this year, reviewing applications and nominations from a number of high-quality candidates

After extensive discussions, it was agreed to present the Awards to those listed below, all of whom will make a short oral presentation at the Summer Meeting in Harrogate:

Karen Ersche (University of Cambridge) Presentation title: Lifting the veil on addiction vulnerability

Marcus Munafo (University of Bristol) Presentation title: Power, precision and phenotype in genetic association studies

Cynthia Fu (Institute of Psychiatry, London) Presentation title: Developing neuroimaging-based biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis in depression

6 June 12 2012 BAP/Cambridge Cognition Prize

The BAP and Cambridge Cognition are strongly committed to promoting and encouraging research in the area of Psychopharmacology that could directly, and in the near term, translate to patient care. Specifically to support the development of novel assessments, treatments algorithms, interventions, or assistive technologies, this Award, new for 2012, particularly rewards translational approaches in Psychopharmacology.

The winner of the 2012 BAP/Cambridge Cognition Prize is Valeria Mondelli of the Institute of Psychiatry, London. Valeria will present a poster at the summer meeting on the work which formed part of her application “The effects of stress and its biological mediators on hippocampal volume in first-episode psychosis”.

2012 Poster Prizes and Undergraduate Awards will be decided at the summer meeting and presented, with the other 2012 Prizes and Awards, at the dinner on Tuesday 24 July

CONFIRMED SYMPOSIA LIST FOR 2013 SUMMER MEETING SUNDAY 28 TO WEDNESDAY 31 JULY

MONDAY 29 JULY 1. The neurobiology of social behaviour: pharmacological manipulation and recent advances in therapy 2. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Synaptic Plasticity as a drug target for Cognitive Dysfunction in CNS Disorders 3. Experimental Medicine approaches in developing new treatments for anxiety disorders

TUESDAY 30 JULY 4. Imaging dopamine in the living brain 5. Computational Psychopharmacology 6. Alzheimer’s disease early detection and early effective treatment

WEDNESDAY 31 JULY 7. Can psychological constructs make good drug targets? The example of salience dysregulation in schizophrenia 8. Novel innovation in monitoring symptoms and treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 9. The impact of inflammatory challenges on mental function

We are delighted that Helen Mayberg of Emory University will present the 2013 Guest Lecture

The 2014 Summer Meeting will be held in Cambridge from Sunday 20 to Wednesday 23 July. Using conference facilities at Robinson and Girton Colleges, and the West Road Concert Hall, the 2014 meeting will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of BAP. A call for symposia will soon be posted on the website.

June 12 7 Forthcoming External Events

Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines Conference 2012 Tuesday 3rd July 2012 Location: King’s College London, Waterloo Campus, Stamford Street, London, SE1 8WA Website: http://estore.kcl.ac.uk

Update on the Management of ADHD in Children, Young People and Adults Thursday 19th July 2012 Location: Royal College of Physicians – Seligman Theatre, NW1 4LE Website: http://www.sept.nhs.uk/adhdmanagement

PsySTAR Summer School Friday 21st September to Saturday 22nd September 2012 Location: Royal Society of Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ Website: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/psychiatry/psystar/psystar-summer-school

Cognitive Enhancers: 22nd Neuropharmacology Conference Thursday 11th to Friday 12th October 2012 Location: Hilton Riverside, New Orleans, LA, USA Website: http://www.neuropharmacology-conference.elsevier.com

25th ECNP Congress Saturday 13th to Wednesday 17th October 2012 Location: Vienna, Austria Website: http://www.ecnp.eu

XXth World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics Sunday 14th to Thursday 18th October 2012 Location: Hamburg, Germany, 20355 Website: http://www.ispg.net/en/Meetings/2012_World_Congress/en/ Meetings/2012_World_Congress.aspx

More external events may be found on the website. Members are invited to send details of forthcoming meetings to Sarah Channing-Wright for posting on the website ([email protected])

8 June 12