Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

Early Alzheimer's increased connectivity lowered by cancer drug in the lab | King's College London Neuroscientists at King’s College London have pinpointed a mechanism behind the increased neural connectivity seen in very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Many people don't know that in early #Alzheimers, the brain is hyperconnected.

New research discovered a mechanism that triggers these extra connections and found a drug 💊 that brings the number of connections back to normal.

🔗 www.kcl.ac.uk/news/early-a...

@alzheimerssoc.bsky.social

Compulsive traits linked to uncertainty over future plans | King's College London New research from King’s College London found that compulsive traits may be driven by uncertainty about the future.

Are people who are more compulsive more uncertain about the consequences of their actions?

@tobywise.bsky.social discusses the findings of his new study.

🔗 Find out more: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/compuls...

#compulsivebehavior

Last Word - Martyn Butler, Allan Massie, Professor Nicola Fear, Willie Colón - BBC Sounds Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, an epidemiologist, an author and a trombonist.

Professor Sir Simon Wessely speaks to BBC Radio 4's Last Word on Professor Nicola Fear's enormous legacy and impact on the field of military mental health, supporting armed forces personnel and their families in the UK and beyond.
[14:10]0

🧪In today's article, @kingsioppn.bsky.social graduate Caroline Lackner highlights how #dogs can be more than #MansBestFriend, talking about the #mind #body #science of #canine co-regulation.

Read now:
www.inspirethemind.org/post/the-min...

Twins Early Development Study receives £5 million MRC funding | King's College London This is the seventh consecutive Medical Research Council (MRC) grant for the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), totalling 35 years of continuous funding.

Twins Early Development Study (led by @thaliaeley.bsky.social, largest and one of the longest-running (over 30 years!) longitudinal twin study in the UK, receives £5 million from the Medical Research Council
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/twins-e...

Congratulations to the @aims2trials.bsky.social team who have been awarded a EURORDIS-Rare Diseases Black Pearl Award for Patient Engagement, for their commitment to involving patients as equal partners in research. 🏆 🧠

Read more here: lnkd.in/eiFDxQnq, as we mark this year's #RareDiseaseDay

A promotional graphic for a book talk event. The background features a dark, tangled chain pattern. At the top, white text reads “4 March, 17:00–18:30, Strand, London, WC2B 4BG,” next to the King’s College London logo. A red label says “BOOK TALK.” On the left is the book cover for Capitalist Value Chains, showing a dark chain motif and the subtitle “Labour Exploitation, Nature Destruction, Geopolitics.” Large white text on the right reads “Capitalist Value Chains” with “With Benjamin Selwyn” beneath it. A red “GET TICKETS” button appears at the bottom.

FREE EVENT 👇
Join us for a powerful interdisciplinary event exploring how creative work, mental health support and peacebuilding can come together to transform lives.

📅4 March | ⏰15:30 - 17:00 | 📍King's Strand Campus & Online
🎟️https://kcl.ac.uk/events/weaving-lives-together-in-nigeria

Bioengineered neuronal 'circuit board' mimics conditions of the human brain | King's College London New bioengineered neuronal circuit board “BioConNet” allows scientists to artificially engineer human brain-like wiring at scale and can be used to engineer any possible circuit. The fully programmable, open-source, system allows generation of large-scale circuits, while maintaining the ability to focus on single connections between neurons.

🧠 Neuroscientist @andreaserio.bsky.social and his team have made lab-grown neural networks that are similar to human cortical circuits.

@crick.ac.uk @ukdri.ac.uk #neuroscience

🔗 www.kcl.ac.uk/news/bioengi...

Her work had a real-life impact for military personnel, veterans, and families, for which she was awarded a CBE in 2025. She leaves an outstanding legacy behind her and will be greatly missed.

Our thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues at this difficult time.

Nicola was a wonderful colleague: passionate, collaborative, kind and a great supporter of early career researchers. She joined King’s in 2004, and with KCMHR established herself as an international authority in military health.

Nicola Fear receiving her CBE

We are deeply saddened to share that Professor Nicola Fear CBE, Director of King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) and Professor of Military Epidemiology at King's College London, died earlier this week.

Advanced techniques separate genetic risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder | King's College London A new study from researchers at King’s College London has split schizophrenia risk into two genetically distinct pathways. One characterised by shared genetic risk with bipolar disorder and associated...

New research has split #schizophrenia risk into 2 genetically distinct pathways:
▪️1 shared with #BipolarDisorder & linked to better educational outcomes
▪️1 unique to schizophrenia & linked to poorer educational outcomes
www.kcl.ac.uk/news/advance...

Communicating Eating Disorders Experiences and Research through Art | King's College London Materials, Shapes, Sounds and Stories of EDIFY Artists in Residence.

As part of #EatingDisorders Awareness Week, we're inviting everyone to our film screening by four EDIFY artists-in-residents as they share artistic translations of eating disorder experience and research

Register now: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/commu...

Ketamine high NOT related to treatment success for people with alcohol use disorder, study finds | King's College London The psychedelic effects recreational users often seek from taking ketamine do not predict the therapeutic benefits for people being treated for alcohol use disorder, according to new research from Kin...

The popular theory which says that the therapeutic benefits of #ketamine for #alcohol use disorder are due to its strong psychedelic effects has been called into question by a new study from @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social and @universityofexeter.bsky.social.

www.kcl.ac.uk/news/ketamin...

First in Europe: high-performance head-only scanner reveals ultra-fine brain detail | King's College London The Centre of Neuroimaging Sciences at the Denmark Hill Campus, King's College London, is now home to a new investigational GE HealthCare MAGNUS 3T MRI scanner, the first of its calibre in Europe. GE HealthCare is a 30 year-long industry-partner of researchers at King’s College London.

A new head-only MRI scanner at King's can scan 2-3x faster than previous state-of-the-art commercial systems, making it ideal for children and young people.

@kingsmaudsley.bsky.social
@nihrmaudsleybrc.bsky.social

#ChildrensMentalHealthWeek

🔗 www.kcl.ac.uk/news/first-i...

Cool, calm and connected: Mental health in a changing climate | King's College London Join us for the next Sustainability Seminar, exploring the effect of climate change on mental wellbeing

#ClimateChange worries pulling you down?
Join us at our next Sustainability Seminar to discover how changemakers are tackling climate anxiety with creativity, community, and on-the-ground solutions on 17 Feb.

Register:

Can listening to certain sounds really treat Alzheimer's Disease? Alzheimer’s disease is related to the build-up of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain, but it is also characterised by disrupted patterns of brain signalling. The brain works through…

Can listening to certain sounds really help treat #Alzheimers? NIHR Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow Eve Bolland discusses the latest evidence in her new blog👇

www.kcl.ac.uk/can-listenin... @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @nihr.bsky.social @nihrmaudsleybrc.bsky.social

Dr Philip Holland appointed president-elect of the European Headache Federation | King's College London Dr Philip Holland, Reader in Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, has been elected as the future president of the European Headache Federation (EHF). He will begin his term as president in December 2027, after two years of serving as the president-elect. He will be the second scientist to be appointed president and the second British president.

🧠 Dr Philip Holland will take on the presidency of the European Headache Federation @ehfofficial.bsky.social from December 2027.

Dr Holland, Reader in Neuroscience, will be the second scientist to be appointed president and the second British president.

#KingsNeuroscience

This week on the @science.org podcast: The undone science of opioids. Although much study has gone into addiction research, less attention has been paid to the biological details of overdose itself, w/ John Strang @kingsioppn.bsky.social
Listen here:
www.science.org/content/podc...

Growing clinical and scientific evidence makes one thing clear: the mind and body are deeply interconnected. Our Psychology and Neuroscience of Mind-Body Interface MSc, a world-first, blends advanced theory with hands-on, real-world training.

Learn more: www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgr...

Vulnerability to Depression and Predicting Its Return Sharing our first results from the Neurocognitive Signatures Predicting Risk of Recurrent Depression (NESPRED) project with a general audience, please join us for this free event in person or online. ...

translational-cognitive-neuroscience.org/news-1/f/vul...
Please register via link above for anyone interested in #brain and #psychological understanding of vulnerability to #depression and its recurrence, we welcome you to our free hybrid event @kingsioppn.bsky.social

New research sheds light on the biological roots of anxiety | King's College London The largest genetic study of anxiety disorders to date has identified 58 genetic variants associated with anxiety, most of which have not been identified before now.

Is there a biological explanation for #anxiety?

New research from @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social has identified 58 genetic variants associated with the condition, most of which have not been identified before now.

Click the link to learn more👇

bit.ly/4r8a6iH

New funding for UK mental health research in under-served areas | King's College London The NIHR is investing almost £55 million in five additional Mental Health Research Groups (MHRGs). King’s College London researchers will collaborate on three of the five new groups.

@nihr.bsky.social is investing £55m in 5 new Mental Health Research Groups to boost research in under-served areas. @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social researchers will support 3 of them led by @plymuni.bsky.social, @keeleuniversity.bsky.social & @lancasteruni.bsky.social
kcl.ac.uk/news/new-fun...

Worrying rise in self-harm among Irish adolescents | King's College London New research has found that while rates of poor mental health and suicide attempts among Irish adolescents have largely recovered from the peaks seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, repeated self-harm i...

Despite rates of poor #mentalhealth and #suicide recovering since the outbreak of #COVID19, Ireland is seeing an increase in the number of young people repeatedly self harm.

Click the link to learn more👇

bit.ly/4kbFB8R

@livunihls.bsky.social @ukri.org @nihrmaudsleybrc.bsky.social @mitulamehta.bsky.social @psychgenomics.bsky.social @cardiffuni.bsky.social @healthinnovox.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

"For the first time we will gather detailed longitudinal assessments and high quality biosamples with voice, digital, genetics, proteomic and other biomarker data. This will give us a more complete picture of depression and its treatments than ever before." Professor Gerome Breen, King’s College London and NIHR Maudsley BRC

"We are excited to provide bespoke support for industry based on our expertise, the excellent networks and facilities in the UK and new tools to leverage our data resources, making the UK highly attractive for industry collaborations." Professor Mitul Mehta, King’s College London and NIHR Maudsley BRC

"The IoPPN has established itself at the forefront of mental health clinical trials. This programme builds on that expertise, bringing together the best of our methodological innovation and collaborative spirit to drive forward more effective, personalised treatments for those who need them most." Professor Richard Emsley, King’s College London and NIHR Maudsley BRC

📢 @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social will co-lead 2 of the 4 national workstreams in the £50m government–funded Mental Health Goals programme, helping to transform #MentalHealth data, #ClinicalTrials and #industry partnerships in the UK.

🔗Read more: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/kings-c...

What really causes migraines? Our understanding of migraine is starting to shift, overturning ideas of what's a symptom and what's a trigger, and which part of the brain is key for developing effective treatments.

❓What really causes migraines?

🧠 Professor Peter Goadsby, leading expert on the neuroscience of migraines, talks to @sofiaquagliajourno.bsky.social at BBC Futures about how our understanding of migraines is starting to change.

🔗 www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

@nihrmaudsleybrc.bsky.social

King's researchers win Medical Research Foundation Emerging Leaders Prizes | King's College London The Medical Research Foundation have announced King’s researchers Dr Gemma Knowles, Dr Maria Rogdaki and Dr Josefien Breedvelt as three of the four winners of their Emerging Leaders Prize 2025 for research into young people’s mental health.

Congratulations to Drs Gemma Knowles, Maria Rogdaki and Josefien Breedvelt, as three of the four winners of the Medical Research Foundation's Emerging Leaders Prize 2025.

“Mania is what defines bipolar disorder, yet it has remained surprisingly difficult to study in its own right. Our research on the genetics of mania gives us a clearer picture of its biology and how it differs from other psychiatric conditions. In the longer term, this could help clinicians recognise bipolar disorder earlier, reduce the long delays many patients face before receiving a diagnosis, and improve outcomes through more targeted treatment.”

➡️ Researchers @kingsioppn.bsky.social and the University of Florence have, for the first time, identified the specific genetic blueprint of mania, the defining feature of #bipolar disorder: www.maudsleybrc.nihr.ac.uk/posts/2026/j... @psychgenomics.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social