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MRCP 1st Annual Meeting June 4, 2025

Mohn research centre for psychotic disorders (MRCP) arranges the first annual meeeting in Bergen on June 4, 2025 at Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Bergen. The meeting presents the latest research methods and findings within psychotic disorders. Professor Iris Sommer, gives the keynote lecture, followed by our outstanding researcers. There are limited places.

4.
June
2025
  1. 04. Jun 2025, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
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Time and place

When

  1. 04. Jun 2025, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

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Registration deadline: 30. Apr 2025
Registration
Logo with drawing of a head

Program

09.00 -10.00

Registration

10.00 -10.15

Welcome - Center leader Erik Johnsen

10.15 -11.00

Key note lecture - The HAMLETT study, maintenance vs early tapering in FEP, Iris Sommer - MRCP SAB member 

11.00 -11.20

Coffee Break

Session 1 

Clinical intervention trialand lived experience (chair: Farivar Fathian)

11:20 -11.40

Update on the STABIL- NOR study (Wegovy vs placebo in SSD) - Rune A. Kroken 

11.45 -12.00

NORPEPS primary results - Gunnhild Hoprekstad 

12.05 -12.25

 User Involvement from demand to reality Anne Blindheim and Oda Djupevåg

12.30 -13.00

Plenum discussion Clinical trials meet lived experience; possibilities and challenges 

13.00 -14.00

LUNCH

Session 2

Biological phenotyping (Chair: Vidar M. Steen)

14.00 -14.20

Gene expression changes in persons with schizophrenia during the first weeks of antipsychotic treatment - Anja Torsvik  

14.25 -14.40

Inflammatory immune mechanisms in psychotic disorders - Attila Szabo  

14.45 -15.05  

Coffee Break

15.05 -15.40

The PsychoEducation with Digital elements and focus on Affective Lability (PEDAL) study: updates and progress - Trine Vik Lagerberg and Margrethe Collier Høegh 

15.45-16.15

Plenum discussion  Biological phenotyping, dissemination and lived experience; possibilities and challenges 

16.15-16.30

Closing remarks - Erik Johnsen

Logo for Mohn foundation, Helse Bergen, Oslo Univsersity hospital and University of Bergen

Iris E. Sommer, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry             
University Medical Center Groningen, and member of MRCP scientific advisory board. Sommer is medical researcher with over 25 years of experience in brain research. Committed to advancing outcomes for patients with psychosis through innovative treatments and understanding underlying mechanisms. Key accomplishments in understanding hallucinations, using language as a marker for psychosis, nutritional psychiatry, tapering of antipsychotic medication and optimal treatment for women with psychosis. Proven track record in securing multimillion-euro grants, leading national and international consortia, communication with lay audience and publishing in high-impact journals. Sommer has research interests in optimizing the treatment of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, biomarkers for precision medicine, computational linguistics, neuroimaging, nutritional psychiatry and gut-brain axis, female-specific treatments.

Rune Andreas Kroken, M.D., Ph.D is a psychiatrist (worked previously as genteral practitioner in Lærdal). He is Principal investigator for the STABIL- NOR study, associated professor at the University of Bergen and consultant/ researcher in Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital (HUH). His research interests are biologic treatment and inflammation in schizophrenia.

Gunnhild E. Hoprekstad, M.Dis a psychiatrist working in a FEP ward at  (HUH). She is also a Ph.D. candidate (University of Bergen) with an interest in understanding the pathophysiology of psychosis with focus on the links between the psychotic symptoms and inflammation.

Anne Alnes Blindheim, M.A. has been working as Lived experience consultant with psychosis (Research department, HUH). She is Head of Psychosis Research with Lived Experience (PEK), a member of MRCPs Management Group, and works as a facilitator of user involvement in research. 

Oda Djupevåg is working as Lived experience consultant with psychosis in STABIL-NOR study (previously in Research department, HUH), and is Co-head of Psychosis Research with Lived Experience (PEK).

Anja Torsvik, Ph.D. is a researcher in Dr Einar Martens Research Group for Biological Psychiatry at the University of Bergen and the group leader of immunology in MRCP. She holds a M.Sc. in molecular biology and a Ph.D. in cell biology. Her research focuses on molecular mechanisms and immunological changes related to treatment and the course of psychotic disorders.

Attila Szabo, Ph.D. is a researcher in Srdjan Djurovic's group at Oslo University Hospital and at the K.G. Jebsen Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at UiO. He is a biologist (M.Sc.) and immunologist (Ph.D.) by training. His research focuses on brain-immune interactions in health and disease, including both clinical biomarker and preclinical stem cell-based models.

Trine Vik Lagerberg, Ph.D. is a professor in clinical psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo and head of the Research and Innovation department in the Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital. She also heads the research group “Mechanisms of psychopathology”. Her main research focus has been on clinical aspects of bipolar disorder and in particular the comorbidity with substance use disorders. She has also initiated the establishment of a specialised clinical unit for bipolar disorder, where most of her current research takes place.

Margrethe Collier Høegh, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and a postdoctoral researcher at Section for Clinical Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital. Her main research area of interest is affect regulation in psychotic- and bipolar disorders.