Oliver Howes Wins EPA Award

The award is given in recognition of his group’s work describing how measured elevated dopamine levels [an important chemical transmitter in the brain] could indicate the onset of psychosis. The paper reporting the findings, published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, has been named ‘best in category’ for the field of ‘Biological correlates and treatment of mental disorders’ by the association.“We showed for the first time the neurochemistry underlying the onset of psychotic illnesses, such as schizophrenia,” explains Oliver. “A specific aspect of the dopamine system was abnormal only in patients who went on to develop psychosis, but not in similar patients who got better, or in healthy controls.”“We found that dopamine abnormality got progressively worse in patients as they developed psychosis. This identifies a new target for drug development, with the potential to prevent the onset of psycotic illness,” he concludes.

Oliver will collect the award at a ceremony to be held in Prague, The Czech Republic, in March. On winning the award, he says: “It’s an honour for the hard work of the whole research team to be recognised in this way.”

You can read more about the findings in this CSC news story from 2011.