People

Matthijs Bossong

My name is Matthijs Bossong and I was born on April 1st 1980 in Vught, The Netherlands. After finishing secondary school, I started studying Medical Biology at Utrecht University in 1998. Both my internships were in the field of neuropharmacology, with an emphasis on addiction and drug abuse. In 2003, I started working as a Junior Investigator at the Trimbos Institute, the Netherlands Institute for Mental Health and Addiction. After working as a research assistant on PET imaging research at the Department of Psychiatry of the University Medical Center in Utrecht, I started my PhD-project in April 2007 at the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery on "Pharmacological Imaging of the Cannabinoid System". In this project I study, together with my colleagues, the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in regulating human cognition. We do this by assessing the acute effects of THC, a partial agonist if the cannabinoid system, on functional brain systems using fMRI. My focus is on the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in memory and attentional systems. The defense of my thesis will (hopefully) be in the first half of 2011. After that, I would like to go working abroad as a postdoc, preferably in the field of neuropharmacology. And who knows what will follow…

Positie

OIO


Subsidieverstrekker

TI-Pharma


Duration

01-04-2007 tot 01-04-2011


Project

Functional neuroimaging and psychological testing following cannabinoid ligand administration in control and patient human population


Content

There are many indications that the endogenous cannabinoid system, an important modulating neurotransmitter system, is involved in cognitive symptoms of several psychiatric disorders, such as addiction or schizophrenia. This is mainly known from animal studies, little research has been done in humans. The aim of our research project is to investigate the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in human cognition. Cognitive domains of interest include memory, attention, reward and emotion.

In our project we activate the endocannabinoid system by administering THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis, to both healthy volunteers and psychiatric patients. Twelve patients of each population (addiction, schizophrenia, ADHD and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and twelve matched healthy volunteers perform three cognitive tasks during functional MRI scanning. In this way patterns and extent of brain activation underlying different cognitive domains can be visualized. Brain activation is compared between THC and placebo sessions and between healthy controls and patients. This approach will result in a better understanding of the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in cognition. In addition, findings will greatly contribute to further research and development of the therapeutic opportunities of cannabinoid ligands in cognitive deficits.



Collaboration UMC Utrecht

UMCU (Louk Vanderschuren, TI-Pharma partner)



Collaboration outside UMC Utrecht

TI-Pharma partners from VU Amsterdam, UMC Groningen, AMC, CHDR (Centre for Human Drug Research), Schering Plough. Steve Williams, Mitul Mehta (IOP Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London).



Publications