https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82911377339?pwd=pZibRVxc8XNFQ2QMMaHVLuZPb1aquY.1
Understanding Schizophrenia through Neuroscience
Minah Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital
Schizophrenia is a complex and heterogeneous disorder characterized by diverse clinical trajectories and variable treatment outcomes. Despite advances in pharmacological and psychosocial interventions, predicting the course and treatment response remains a major clinical challenge. This variability underscores the need for biologically grounded markers that can refine diagnosis and guide individualized care.
At the Seoul Youth Clinic, we have established a longitudinal cohort designed to identify neurobiological signatures associated with psychosis onset, progression, and recovery. Using multimodal approaches, including neuroimaging and electrophysiology, our work has focused on thalamocortical dysconnectivity and mismatch negativity (MMN) as promising biomarkers that capture the core neurophysiological deficits in schizophrenia and its prodromal states.
In parallel, we have investigated electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a form of neuromodulation to unravel the neural mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of ECT and to identify the brain networks mediating symptom improvement.
By integrating these findings, we aim to move toward a biomarker-based, biotype-informed framework for personalized neuromodulation. Such an approach may ultimately help overcome the heterogeneity problem in schizophrenia and enable targeted interventions grounded in brain circuitry.
