My PhD Student of the Year trophy arrived today and Alfie’s sure it’s his 🐾💚 Fitting timing on #WorldMentalHealthDay, as my work on PTSD and as a lived experience advocate aims to improve understanding and support for mental health.

Huge thanks to @profamymilton.bsky.social for all the support!

Mitochondrial dysfunction in PTSD: A mechanism to understand trauma susceptibility? - Psychopharmacology Rationale and Objectives Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a complex mental health condition that arises following exposure to traumatic events. Converging evidence suggests mitochondrial dysfunction and brain energy metabolism impairment in its pathophysiology. Thus, examining mitochondrial data from both preclinical and experimental medicine studies may help us to have a deeper understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying PTSD. Methods Using PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science online databases, we conducted a search for peer-reviewed manuscripts targeting both mitochondrial-related activity and PTSD. Our search yielded 43 studies in total, including 29 in rodent models and 15 clinical studies. Results Preclinical studies reported a decrease in energy metabolism with a reduction in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level, upregulation of genes associated with ATP synthesis, impairment of the glycolytic pathway, citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation pathways and increased oxidative stress and neuronal apoptosis in the brain, or systemically. In the clinical setting, studies identified 1108 participants with PTSD and 312 with partial PTSD, with these individuals showing alterations in energy production, mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) and elevated oxidative stress. Risperidone and AC-5216—a selective ligand for TSPO—emerged as potential treatments. Conclusion Our synthesis of the published findings indicates a notable overlap between results from both animal models and humans which could show a potential usage of mitochondrial-related targets as biomarkers or for drug discovery. Additionally, these results highlight the need for future research in describing whether mitochondrial dysfunction is a cause or a symptom of PTSD.

Great to see Felippe Espinelli Amorim’s (not yet on BlueSky) and @charlotte-rye.bsky.social’s meta-analysis on mitochondrial dysfunction in PTSD out in @psychopharmacology.bsky.social 👏🏻
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

How can we improve young people's mental health? Mind the gap: how mental health always been the poor relation of physical health...

I recently shared my story on the Naked Scientists podcast! Catch me from 17:18 where I explain the importance of integrated healthcare 🏥 and the vision of @cambchildrens.bsky.social

www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...

⭐️ Coming to a streaming service near you ⭐
10/06/25 🗣️ 🎙️

Had such fun recording today for the Naked Scientists Podcast - sharing my lived experience, research and work as part of the Cambridge Children’s Hospital team 🥰

I guess science is pretty cool after all 👩🏼‍🔬💁🏼‍♀️

It was such an honour sharing my story at a wonderful event celebrating Cheffin’s partnership with Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust to support the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital (CCH).

CCH will bring mental and physical health treatment together under one roof, alongside world-leading research.

Reward contamination in restrictive anorexia nervosa: A meta-analysis of functional MRI studies Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are typically anhedonic, leading to the suggestion that intrinsic disturbances of reward processing may represe…

I'm excited to share that our meta-analysis on reward-related brain activity in anorexia nervosa has been published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior!

Thanks to @profamymilton.bsky.social @camneuro.bsky.social for helping bring this to life!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Had a fantastic time at #BNA2025. Really enjoyed connecting with fellow neuroscientists, sharing ideas, and getting inspired by all the amazing research!
@britishneuro.bsky.social
@profamymilton.bsky.social

Yesterday, I had the privilege of presenting my scientific poster at #CNS2025! 🎉 It was an incredible opportunity to share our research. A big thank you to @camneuro.bsky.social!

If you're interested in our work, our preregistration is available online: osf.io/zsgek

@profamymilton.bsky.social you’ve worn me down!
But super excited to share this work!