Our Research
Dr. Phillips is Principal Investigator on the following grants:
Reward, Impulsive Sensation Seeking and Emotion Dysregulation: Neural Mechanisms Underlying Risk for Bipolar Disorder in Young Adults (Otherwise known as our Diamond2 study)
This is a NIMH-funded renewal of our original Diamond study in which we aim to better identify bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD) in at-risk young adults, and provide neural targets for novel (e.g., neuromodulation) interventions to delay or prevent, BPSD.
Caregiving Effects on the Early Development of Infant Brain-Behavior Relationships
Along with Alison Hipwell, PhD, Dr. Phillips aims to examine prospective relationships among neural circuitry structure and intrinsic functional connectivity at 3 and 9 months, and change between 3 to 9 months, and 3-18 month changes in emotional reactivity and regulation.
Elucidating Neural Mechanisms of Hypo/mania Using Theta Burst Stimulation (Otherwise known as our TREAT-BD Study)
As part of this study, we attempt to determine the impact of TBS on the vlPFC and related brain circuitry activity and functional connectivity during reward anticipation.
Children of Bipolar Parents: A High-Risk Follow-up Study (BIOS)
Along with MPI Boris Birmaher, MD, Dr. Phillips continues to study the BIOS sample to identify the clinical and psychosocial trajectories from childhood into adulthood, how these trajectories change during adulthood, and the prodromal symptoms of BD.
Course and Outcome of Bipolar Disorder in Youth (COBY)
Along with MPIs Boris Birmaher, MD, and Amelia Versace, MD, Dr. Phillips seeks to determine how previous bipolar disorder clinical course and treatment exposure from childhood into adulthood impacts neural circuitry functioning and structure supporting key NIMH RDoC information processing domains, to which they compare neuroimaging findings.
Dr. Phillips is Co-Investigator on the following studies:
Development of Anhedonia in High-Risk Adolescents
Erika Forbes, PhD, is PI on this study that seeks to examine developmental changes in subjective, neural, and behavioral aspects of anhedonia in adolescents, who are either typically developing or have a first-degree relative with a history of depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia-spectrum.
Emotion Regulation Circuitries in Youth with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Amelia Versace, MD, and Anthony Kontos, PhD, are MPIs on this study which uses multimodal neuroimaging techniques to characterize the brain structure and functioning of emotional regulation circuitries in 200 youth 1 week after injury.
Transdiagnostic Neural Mechanisms Underlying Dimensions of Negative Affectivity in Depression and Anxiety
Jay Fournier, PhD tests a novel model of neural dysfunction during emotion regulation associated with excessive self-consciousness and to examine the real-world consequences of that dysfunction.
The Contribution of Aberrant Anticipatory Processing to Spectrum Depression and Mania, and Cognitive and Emotional Dysfunction in Major Depressive and Bipolar Disorders
Anna Manelis, PhD proposes that aberrant anticipatory processing preceding performance on episodic and working memory tasks may be an important factor that mediates the relationship between mood symptoms and functioning in individuals with MDD and BD.
Theta Burst Stimulation of Frontostriatal Reward Circuitry in Young Adults with Depression
Erika Forbes, PhD, leads this study, which seeks to manipulate positive valence systems at the neural level to understand their function, and potentially reveal a source of heterogeneity relevant to future research in experimental.
Using fMRI of Autobiographical Memory Recall to Determine Risk and Resilience Endophenotypes in Familial Major Depressive
Kymberly Young, PhD seeks to examine whether this correctable mechanism also convers vulnerability or resilience to developing MDD in a longitudinal design following young adults at high risk for developing MDD.
From Manic Symptoms to Bipolar Disorder: Neural-behavioral Markers Using Two Analytic Models
Michele Bertocci, PhD, and Rasim Diler, MD, investigate brain-behavior relations in the most severely ill youth during inpatient stays and aim to build a predictive model of bipolar disorder.