The biological basis of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, is largely still a mystery–making it hard to develop effective new treatments. Better characterizing how the brains of affected individuals are altered by these conditions may lead to creative solutions and ultimately a higher quality of life.

The Baker team is focused on changes in brain network architecture that accompany psychosis and other symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We are deeply interested in following the trajectory of network architecture changes within individual patients (with “longitudinal” studies and “deep-phenotyping” approaches)–as well as looking for commonalities in changes across large groups of individuals–with the aim of gaining basic neurobiological insights into the factors that influence illness trajectory and therapeutic response across a range of psychopathology.