NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)

Better Sleep 

Exploiting new sleep and circadian science to develop, test and translate innovations to improve health. Sleep and Circadian Disruption (SCRD), where sleep timing is disrupted, is highly prevalent clinically, drives more complex mental and physical illness, and is relevant in, for example, shift work. Work will apply novel science and support innovative trials to improve the health and quality of life of individuals with SCRD.    

Brain Technologies (Mark Woolrich)

Delivery of brain technologies for use in psychological, psychiatric and brain disorders. It will focus on the scientific/clinical interface to create, and test, accurate tools for measuring brain structure and function to improve risk identification, early diagnosis, outcome prediction and targeted treatments.

Data Science (Andrea Cipriani, Seena Fazel)

Combining routine and clinical data will lead to the personalised care of individuals with mental health disorders, improving their outcomes and reducing NHS costs. Work will improve the current treatment of mental illness in a one-size-fits-all, trial and error approach to make use of clinical trial data, remote monitoring and long-term outcomes from real-world datasets. Processes, pipelines, clinical models and algorithms will be developed, and refined, to customise and personalise treatment.

Dementia (Clare Mackay)

Work will aim to preserve cognitive health and prevent cognitive decline by refining cognitive, imaging and blood-based biomarkers at scale in the general population and in people experiencing memory problems. Two major challenges will be addressed: (i) identifying individuals in whom new approved drugs, alongside non-pharmacological interventions, are likely to be beneficial and (ii) developing sensitive, robust measures for earlier diagnosis and clinical trial outcomes.

Depression Therapeutics (Catherine Harmer, Philip Cowen)

Using human neurocognitive models to identify and develop new and improved treatments for depression. Depression is a leading cause of disability with current treatments often leaving patients with incomplete recovery. Animal models have not been able to predict clinical effects so we are developing human neurocognitive models of antidepressant action to allow study of novel, and repurposed, compounds in both healthy and depressed people.

Flourishing and well-being (Ilina Singh, Willem Kuyken)

Investigating how non-clinical environments might be utilised to enhance public health and mental health. Will develop flourishing and evidence-based interventions by understanding the mechanism(s) of action. It will use non-clinical approaches to engage with minoritized populations and groups under-represented in research, support the enthusiasm for “social prescribing” and demonstrate how community resources such as outdoor spaces, public institutions and workplaces could be used to deliver preventative initiatives and mental health interventions.

Mental Health in Development (Cathy Creswell)

Delivering accessible, effective interventions for children, young people, and families. Focusing on how understanding the biological, social, and psychological mechanisms underlying common mental health problems in children and young people can be translated into more targeted, effective and accessible prevention and treatment.

Molecular Targets (Paul Harrison)

Using the latest advances in “—omics” and biomarkers to identify and validate psychiatric targets.

Pain

Improving chronic pain through targeted brain-based mechanisms. Chronic pain is one of the largest global health problems. Work will provide the evidence-base for using a brain targeted, and mechanism- based approach, to personalised management and treatment of chronic pain.

Preventing Multiple Morbidities (Kam Bhui)

Work will reduce premature morbidity and mortality through co-designing interventions for the whole population, plus focused interventions for individuals with mental illnesses. There will be a focus on (i) co-designing and testing policy interventions to prevent non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the general population and (ii) designing interventions to help those with mental illness reduce behavioural risks for NCDs by addressing the underlying social and neuropsychological difficulties.

Psychological Treatments

Improving patient outcomes by developing new and effective psychological interventions that precisely target the psychological mechanisms of mental health disorders or poor recovery from physical illness.  Blended digital interventions and automated virtual reality therapies will be created that can be accessed by patients from their homes at convenient times and require less input from healthcare staff.