Detail

Keywords

Antidepressive Agents; Depression; Receptors, Glutamate; Receptors, Serotonin

Research group(s)

• NEUROIMAGING LABs (NIL) - PET & MRI & EEG & Chemical Lab
  Research Area: Psychopharmacological Neuroimaging; Experimental Nuclear Medicine; Multimodal Neuroimaging; Translational Neuroimaging; Psycho-Neuroendocrinology; Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience; Gender Medicine
  Members:
  Rene Seiger
  Christoph Kraus

Research interests

My main goal is to alleviate suffering in patients affected by severe psychiatric diseases with a focus on mood disorders, OCD and related diseases. This involves investigations of neurobiological causes of depression in patients with currently available neuroscientific methods and improving these. In addition, my work aims to leverage basic neuroscientific knowledge such as information on disease vulnerability in successful clinical applications.  

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

Within the Neuroimaging LABs at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (PI Prof. Rupert Lanzenberger) I am skilled in analyzing data of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, I use positron emission tomography to combine information of in vivo protein distribution with structural and functional proxies of brain activity. I am trained in clinical psychiatry (attending psychiatrist) and clinical psychopharmacology, cognitive behavioral therapy and licensed to perform indication and treatment with electroconvulsive therapy. 

Grants

• The Brain’s Glucose Consumption During DBS in OCD (2019)
  Source of Funding: Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, NARSAD Young Investigator Grant
  Principal Investigator

Selected publications

1. Kraus, C. et al., 2014. Gray matter and intrinsic network changes in the posterior cingulate cortex after selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor intake. NeuroImage, 84, pp.236-244. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.08.036.
2. Kraus, C. et al., 2014. Exploring the Impact of BDNF Val66Met Genotype on Serotonin Transporter and Serotonin-1A Receptor Binding V. Sgambato-Faure, ed. PLoS ONE, 9(9), p.e106810. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106810.
3. Kraus, C. et al. (2012) ‘Serotonin-1A receptor binding is positively associated with gray matter volume — A multimodal neuroimaging study combining PET and structural MRI’, NeuroImage, 63(3), pp. 1091–1098. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.07.035.
4. Kraus, C. et al., 2017. Administration of ketamine for unipolar and bipolar depression. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 21(1), pp.2-12. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13651501.2016.1254802.
5. Kraus, C. et al., 2018. The pulvinar nucleus and antidepressant treatment: dynamic modeling of antidepressant response and remission with ultra-high field functional MRI. Molecular Psychiatry. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41380-017-0009-x.