Discoveries for a better tomorrow
Could brain scanning to detect risk be in the future of mental healthcare?
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Our Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study is the first to show that the uniqueness of an adolescent's brain (their 'brain fingerprint'), detected through MRI, can predict mental health outcomes.
This unveils a potential future in which we screen for mental health risk and intervene early to reduce or prevent impacts on young people.
Find out more
- Article in The Conversation
- Webinar recording
- Research papers in NeuroImage and in Futures
Youth mental health studies
Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study
An ambitious, world-first study of the brain and its exciting changes through adolescence.
Open to participants aged 12-15 years
The brain, gut, early life stress and anorexia nervosa
This study aims to understand how early experiences shape biology, and risk and maintaining factors for anorexia nervosa.
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Cyberbullying impact research
The first study to use functional MRI to understand the impacts of cyberbullying on young people.
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Brain Changer school workshops
We visited schools to teach young people five ways to supercharge their brains.
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Combatting Anxiousness for Learning Minds (CALM)
Understanding how anxiousness impacts children's attention and how mindfulness can help.
AAIMS: Adolescence study
This UniSC Thompson Institute study is investigating the links between a Mediterranean eating style, the brain and the gut in teenagers with ADHD.
News
Our research team
![Daniel Hermens](/media/19149429/daniel-hermens.jpg?crop=0.0000000000000001184237892934,0.085638701433534359,0,0.41593858563271174&cropmode=percentage&width=120&height=80&rnd=133613843870300000)
Professor Daniel Hermens
Acting Director | Professor of Youth Mental Health and Neurobiology | Thompson Institute
![Amanda Boyes](/media/17684606/amanda-boyes237x317.jpg?center=0.31521926851718857,0.52294324547116056&mode=crop&width=120&height=80&rnd=133613843868800000)
Dr Amanda Boyes
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Youth Mental Health) - Thompson Institute
![Michelle Kennedy](/media/k1qfygys/michelle-kennedy.jpg?center=0.42788402591325714,0.409164876190222&mode=crop&width=120&height=80&rnd=133613843873300000)
Dr Michelle Kennedy
Post Doctoral Research Fellow – Youth Mental Health
![Marcella Parker](/media/19142168/marcellaparker.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=120&height=80&rnd=133613843872730000)
Marcella Parker
Research Assistant (Youth Mental Health), Thompson Institute
![Shae Rendall](/media/skqlhyn0/shae-rendall_v2-scaled.jpg?center=0.29935583654674108,0.46457540177217754&mode=crop&width=120&height=80&rnd=133461839070530000)
Shae Rendall
Research Assistant, Thompson Institute
![Taliah Prince](/media/zlcjfa5m/taliah-prince-30-11-2023-copy.jpg?center=0.42617565833707177,0.515530933435305&mode=crop&width=120&height=80&rnd=133632639207900000)
Taliah Prince
Research Assistant