Dr. Shitij Kapur

Canada Research Chair in Imaging Technologies in Human Disease and Preclinical Models
University of Toronto
Tier 2 - January 1, 2001
Health

Research Involves

Using imaging technology to uncover brain disorders.

Research Relevance

The development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Unlocking the Mystery of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that often defies diagnosis and proper treatment. In the earliest stages of the disease, a schizophrenic may only seem to think and act a little differently. As time goes on, however, they can become lost in a world of delusion and confusion. Close to three hundred thousand Canadians suffer from this illness, an illness that knows no boundaries of gender, race, culture or wealth. Perhaps most disconcerting: it’s difficult to say who is at risk and when the illness will strike.

Schizophrenia represents one of the greatest challenges to modern medicine. Current diagnostic techniques include extensive interviews between the psychiatrist and patient. After that, it’s a hit-and-miss process in deciding whether patients should be placed on anti-psychotic drugs, which drug to choose and what dosage they should receive. Further, it is very hard to predict who will do well and who will not.

Shitij Kapur and his colleagues believe science can do better. They are developing new diagnostic methods that may one day allow doctors to simply scan the brains of potential schizophrenics, helping with diagnosis and treatment and even predicting outcomes

Kapur and his colleagues are trying to understand what neurochemical imbalance leads to this disorder. For starters they are focussing on a brain chemical known to be out of balance in schizophrenics: dopamine.. By using Positron Emission Tomography, they are trying to monitor the levels of dopamine in the brain and examine the impact of anti-psychotic drugs. The technique is called Neuroimaging.

Kapur’s research has already demonstrated that many current medications may be used in doses much higher than required. These high-dosage therapies often leave patients listless and unmotivated—causing them to stop taking their medication. And that leads to problems. If this is confirmed, low-dosage drug treatments, will one day offer schizophrenic patients a better quality of life.

In just a few short years, Kapur has made great strides in understanding the mechanisms of schizophrenia. Despite his youth, he is already the recipient of several awards of excellence and is currently affiliated with three research institutes. Receiving the Canada Research Chair allows him to enhance his work with neuroimaging techniques in humans and animals, to apply them to the appropriate prescription of current drugs and, and in time lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic methods.

For further information, please contact Dr. Shitij Kapur using the Email contact form or by phone at 416 535-8501 ext 4361