Labroots’ virtual events are a fantastic way to network and learn about the work of other researchers in your field. These events feature participants from around the world who can showcase their research for free in a virtual poster format. At this year’s Drug Discovery & Development Virtual Week (now available to view On-Demand), Labroots highlighted an extraordinary study involving methylphenidate treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This unique work comes from Robyn Wiseman, who is a Pharmacology PhD student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
(To see the full poster in detail, check out the 2023 Drug Discovery & Development Virtual Week On-Demand)
Wiseman’s poster study examined brain responses of ADHD patients after receiving treatment with methylphenidate and a placebo, including brain activity, task performance, and observing brain metabolites from imaging scans, telling Labroots this study is a first-of-its-kind combining magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) with task-based functional MRI within a single ADHD patient population.
“With this novel combination of neuroimaging, we were able to gain some fundamental knowledge about how glutamate is impacting cortical function in ADHD,” Wiseman recently told Labroots. “These relationships could be useful for examining drug effects on the more complex executive function and cognitive symptoms of the disease that continue to cause issues into adulthood and in identifying novel pathways for drug targeting outside of dopaminergic targets (traditional targets of ADHD stimulant medications).”
Wiseman stresses the importance of finding more objective methods for studying psychiatric diseases, noting that MRS is able to count neuro-metabolites, which she says ADHD or therapeutics could alter.
“By pairing MRS with fMRI, we can develop a richer picture of what the functional impact might be of regional differences in neuro-metabolites, and the results of these neuroimaging studies are more objective than traditional tools such as questionnaires about symptoms,” Wiseman tells Labroots.
To follow Robyn Wiseman’s research and career, and to connect with her, check out her LinkedIn profile.
