Research Interest

The presence of psychiatric and psychological disorders is observed in approximately 15% of children and adolescents. Studying the disorders’ characteristics at these ages is important to establish an early diagnosis and intervention in order to improve their prognosis. This programme investigates the genetic bases and clinical, cognitive, and neuroimaging characteristics of the most prevalent psychiatric and psychological diseases in children and adolescents: disorders related to eating, depression, anxiety, emotional upsets, attention deficit and hyperactivity, autistic disorders and psychotic disorders, among others.

Technologies & Methods

• Neuroimaging
• Genetics

Active Projects

• • Características comunes y diferenciales en hijos de pacientes con esquizofrenia diagnosticados de TDAH, hijos de padres sanos diagnosticados de TDAH y controles. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. PI18/00696. Josefina Castro-Fornieles.

• • Construcción de un modelo multimodal con capacidad diagnóstica y pronóstica en adolescentes con alto riesgo de psicosis: integración de factores genéticos, ambientales y de neuroimag. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. PI18/00976. Gisela Sugranyes.

• • Early intervention to improve cognitive reserve in subjects at risk and early stages of phychosis. Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica. FCRB_PB2_2020. Josefina Castro-Fornieles.

• • Estudio longitudinal de una cohorte representativa: superando la heterogeneidad clínica y biológica en primeros episodios psicóticos. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. PI 20/00654. Elena de la Serna.

• • Estudio longitudinal sobre marcadores nutricionales y de estrés en niños y adolescentes con síndrome de riesgo de psicosis y su capacidad predictiva de la transición a psicosi. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. PI18/00242. Inmaculada Baeza.

• • Fenomenología y vías neuroinmunes de los comportamientos repetitivos y restrictivos. rio de Economia y Competitividad. PI19/01122. Luisa Lazaro.

• • Grup de recerca en psiquiatria i psicología infantil clínic. (GRUPPIC). Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca. 2017SGR881. Josefa Castro-Fornieles.

• • Immune-mediated diseases of the synapse: symptoms, brain networks, and the link to human memory. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. SGR17_00881. Josefina Castro-Fornieles.

• • Influencia de las vacunas, biomarcadores infecciosos e inmunológicos y análisis de las redes transcriptomainteractoma en el curso de los trastornos de tics: un estudio longitudinal (COURSE-CAT). Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. PI20/01056. Astrid Morer.

Selected Publications

• • Baeza, I., de la Serna, E., Amoretti, S., Cuesta, M. J., Díaz-Caneja, C. M., Mezquida, G., Lobo, A., González-Pinto, A., Corripio, I., Vieta, E., Puig, O., Legido, T., Bioque, M., García-Rizo, C., Bernardo, M., Castro-Fornieles, J., & PEPs Group (2021). Premorbid Characteristics as Predictors of Early Onset Versus Adult Onset in Patients With a First Episode of Psychosis. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 82(6), 21m13907. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.21m13907

• • Camprodon-Boadas, P., de la Serna, E., Baeza, I., Puig, O., Ilzarbe, D., Sugranyes, G., Borras, R., & Castro-Fornieles, J. (2021). Cognitive reserve in patients with first-episode psychosis as outcome predictor at 5-year follow-up. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(12), 1959–1967. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01668-4

• • Castro-Fornieles, J., de la Serna, E., Calvo, A., Pariente, J., Andrés-Perpiña, S., Plana, M. T., Romero, S., Flamarique, I., Gárriz, M., & Bargalló, N. (2021). Cortical thickness 20 years after diagnosis of anorexia nervosa during adolescence. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 271(6), 1133–1139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-019-00992-4

• • De la Serna, E., Ilzarbe, D., Sugranyes, G., Baeza, I., Moreno, D., Rodríguez-Toscano, E., Espliego, A., Ayora, M., Romero, S., Sánchez-Gistau, V., & Castro-Fornieles, J. (2021). Lifetime psychopathology in child and adolescent offspring of parents diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: a 2-year follow-up study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(1), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01500-z

• • De la Serna, E., Puig, O., Mezquida, G., Moreno-Izco, L., Merchan-Naranjo, J., Amoretti, S., Ruiz, P., Gonzalez-Pinto, A., Molina-García, M., Corripio, I., Vieta, E., Baeza, I., Berge, D., Penadés, R., Sanchez-Torres, A., Cuesta, M. J., Bernardo, M., Castro-Fornieles, J., Madero, S., … Group, T. P. (2021). Relationship between cognition and age at onset of first-episode psychosis: comparative study between adolescents, young adults, and adults. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01901-8

• • ENIGMA Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Working Group, Jalbrzikowski, M., Hayes, R. A., Wood, S. J., Nordholm, D., Zhou, J. H., Fusar-Poli, P., Uhlhaas, P. J., Takahashi, T., Sugranyes, G., Kwak, Y. B., Mathalon, D. H., Katagiri, N., Hooker, C. I., Smigielski, L., Colibazzi, T., Via, E., Tang, J., Koike, S., Rasser, P. E., … Hernaus, D. (2021). Association of Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Measures with Psychosis Onset in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Developing Psychosis: An ENIGMA Working Group Mega-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 78(7), 753–766. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0638

• • Fortea, A., Batalla, A., Radua, J., van Eijndhoven, P., Baeza, I., Albajes-Eizagirre, A., Fusar-Poli, P., Castro-Fornieles, J., De la Serna, E., Luna, L. P., Carvalho, A. F., Vieta, E., & Sugranyes, G. (2021). Cortical gray matter reduction precedes transition to psychosis in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis: A voxel-based meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Research, 232, 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2021.05.008

• • Garcia-Delgar, B., Servera, M., Coffey, B. J., Lázaro, L., Openneer, T., Benaroya-Milshtein, N., Steinberg, T., Hoekstra, P. J., Dietrich, A., Morer, A., & EMTICS collaborative group (2021). Tic disorders in children and adolescents: does the clinical presentation differ in males and females? A report by the EMTICS group. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 10.1007/s00787-021-01751-4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01751-4

• • Guasp, M., Giné-Servén, E., Maudes, E., Rosa-Justicia, M., Martínez-Hernández, E., Boix-Quintana, E., Bioque, M., Casado, V., Módena-Ouarzi, Y., Guanyabens, N., Muriana, D., Sugranyes, G., Pacchiarotti, I., Davi-Loscos, E., Torres-Rivas, C., Ríos, J., Sabater, L., Saiz, A., Graus, F., … Dalmau, J. (2021). Clinical, Neuroimmunologic, and CSF Investigations in First Episode Psychosis. Neurology, 97(1), e61 LP-e75. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000012191

• • Ilzarbe, D., Baeza, I., de la Serna, E., Fortea, A., Valli, I., Puig, O., Masias, M., Borras, R., Pariente, J. C., Dolz, M., Castro-Fornieles, J., & Sugranyes, G. (2021). Theory of mind performance and prefrontal connectivity in adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 48, 100940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100940

• • Sugranyes, G., de la Serna, E., Ilzarbe, D., Pariente, J. C., Borras, R., Romero, S., Rosa, M., Baeza, I., Moreno, M. D., Bernardo, M., Vieta, E., & Castro-Fornieles, J. (2021). Brain structural trajectories in youth at familial risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder according to development of psychosis spectrum symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 62(6), 780–789. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13321

• • Valli, I., Serna, E., Borràs, R., Ilzarbe, D., Baeza, I., Picouto, M. D., Baltasar, I., Moreno, D., Bernardo, M., Young, A. H., Vieta, E., Sugranyes, G., & Castro-Fornieles, J. (2021). Cognitive heterogeneity in the offspring of patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: a cluster analysis across family risk. Journal of Affective Disorders, 282, 757–765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.12.090

• • Via, E., Calvo, A., de la Serna, E., Blázquez, A., Lázaro, L., Andrés-Perpiñá, S., Plana, M. T., Flamarique, I., Martínez, E., Pariente, J., Moreno, E., Bargallo, N., & Castro-Fornieles, J. (2021). Longitudinal study in adolescent anorexia nervosa: evaluation of cortico-striatal and default mode network resting-state brain circuits. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Oct 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01880-w