Dr Giorgia Michelini

Profile

Qualifications:

• BSc in Psychology
• MSc in Clinical Psychology
• MSc in Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry
• PhD in Developmental Psychopathology & Neuroscience
• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Teaching

Undergraduate

PSY100 – Essential Skills for Psychologists (UG, Tutorials)

Postgraduate

PSY706P – Psychiatric Genetics & Genomics (PG)

Research

Research Interests:

My research focuses on neurodiversity (e.g., ADHD) and mental health conditions (e.g., mood disorders) in children and young people. Specifically, I study the biological and psychosocial processes underlying these conditions, as well as their co-occurrence, in order to inform prevention, early identification, and treatment strategies. To this end, I integrate approaches from developmental psychopathology, aetiological research, transdiagnostic frameworks, and cognitive/affective neuroscience (e.g., EEG).

 Current research projects:

1. Attention & Emotion Study (funded by a Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation fellowship): The goal of this study is to test whether difficulties controlling emotion and attention in children with ADHD predict future ADHD symptom persistence and emergence of depression and suicidality. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), we are collecting data from adolescents and young adults with and without childhood ADHD who completed extensive clinical and electroencephalography (EEG) assessments when they were children. This project aims to inform future research on the efficacy of prevention strategies to reduce the impact of persistent ADHD and co-occurring depression and suicidality in youth.
2. EEG Signatures of Risk for Adolescent Depression Study (funded by a Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator Award): The goal of this study is to identify brain signatures of risk for depression in adolescents from the general population. Specifically, using well-characterised samples recruited by collaborators at SUNY Stony Brook University, we are conducting advanced analyses of EEG data and investigating whether brain signatures help improve our ability to predict emergence of depression over and above known risk factors (e.g., family history of depression, life adversities). This work aims to inform early identification of adolescents at high risk for depression, who would benefit from prevention strategies.
3. Neurodiversity and Trans-Diagnostic Mental Health: I lead an international collaboration focused on integrating neurodevelopmental conditions in trans-diagnostic dimensional models of psychopathology (e.g., the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology). The aim is to provide a framework to study, detect and treat mental health conditions in people with various neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as to identify shared biological and psychosocial processes underlying their co-occurrence.

Please feel free to email me (g.michelini@qmul.ac.uk) if you would like to talk to me about my research or if you are interested in joining my research group or collaborating with me. I am committed to encouraging, promoting and maintaining diversity in my research group and studies. It is well known that certain groups have a more difficult journey into academia, so I am especially keen to hear from individuals from backgrounds that are under-represented in academia.

Examples of research funding:

• Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation fellowship (2021-2023)
• Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator Award (2020-2022)
• NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017-2018)
• Short-Term EMBO Fellowship (2015)

Publications

Publication Lists

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

Selected publications:

Michelini, G., Palumbo, I. M., DeYoung, C. G., Latzman, R. D., & Kotov, R. (2021). Linking RDoC and HiTOP: a novel interface for advancing psychiatric nosology and neuroscience. Clinical Psychology Review, 86, 102025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102025

Michelini, G., Perlman, G., Tian, Y., Mackin, D. M., Nelson, B. D., Klein, D. N., & Kotov, R. (2021). Multiple domains of risk factors for first onset of depression in adolescent girls. Journal of Affective Disorders, 283, 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.036

Latzman, R. D., DeYoung, C. G., Krueger, R. F., Michelini, G. (2021). Connecting Quantitatively-Derived Personality-Psychopathology Models and Neuroscience. Personality Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-020-0639-6

Carruthers, S., Michelini, G.,* Kitsune, V., Hosang, G. H., Asherson, P., & Kuntsi, J. (2021). Early neurophysiological stimulus processing during a performance-monitoring task differentiates women with bipolar disorder from women with ADHD. Psychiatry Research. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114088 *joint first author

Bozhilova, N., Kuntsi, J., Rubia, K., Michelini, G.,** & Asherson, P. (2021). Electrophysiological modulation of sensory and attentional processes during mind wandering in ADHD. NeuroImage. Clinical, 29, 102547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102547 **joint senior author

Vainieri, I.,Michelini, G.,* Adamo, N., Cheung, C., Asherson, P., & Kuntsi, J. (2020). Event-related brain-oscillatory and ex-Gaussian markers of remission and persistence of ADHD. Psychological Medicine, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720002056  *joint first author

Bozhilova, N.,^¥ Cooper, R., Kuntsi, J., Asherson, P., & Michelini, G. (2020). Electrophysiological correlates of spontaneous mind wandering in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Behavioural Brain Research, 391, 112632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112632

Michelini, G., Barch, D. M., Tian, Y., Watson, D., Klein, D. N., & Kotov, R. (2019). Delineating and validating higher-order dimensions of psychopathology in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Translational Psychiatry, 9(1), 261. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0593-4

Michelini, G., Jurgiel, J., Bakolis, I., Cheung, C., Asherson, P., Loo, S. K., Kuntsi, J., & Mohammad-Rezazadeh, I. (2019). Atypical functional connectivity in adolescents and adults with persistent and remitted ADHD during a cognitive control task. Translational Psychiatry, 9(1), 137. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-019-0469-7

Franke, B., Michelini, G., Asherson, P., Banaschewski, T., Bilbow, A., Buitelaar, J. K., Cormand, B., Faraone, S. V., Ginsberg, Y., Haavik, J., Kuntsi, J., Larsson, H., Lesch, K. P., Ramos-Quiroga, J. A., Réthelyi, J. M., Ribases, M., & Reif, A. (2018). Live fast, die young? A review on the developmental trajectories of ADHD across the lifespan. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 28(10), 1059–1088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.08.001

Michelini, G., Cheung, C., Kitsune, V., Brandeis, D., Banaschewski, T., McLoughlin, G., Asherson, P., Rijsdijk, F., & Kuntsi, J. (2018). The Etiological Structure of Cognitive-Neurophysiological Impairments in ADHD in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Journal of Attention Disorders, 1087054718771191. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054718771191

Michelini, G., Kitsune, V., Vainieri, I., Hosang, G. M., Brandeis, D., Asherson, P., & Kuntsi, J. (2018). Shared and Disorder-Specific Event-Related Brain Oscillatory Markers of Attentional Dysfunction in ADHD and Bipolar Disorder. Brain Topography, 31(4), 672–689. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-018-0625-z

Battaglia, M., Michelini, G.,* Pezzica, E., Ogliari, A., Fagnani, C., Stazi, M. A., Bertoletti, E., & Scaini, S. (2017). Shared genetic influences among childhood shyness, social competences, and cortical responses to emotions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 160, 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.03.012 *joint first author

Michelini, G., Kitsune, G. L., Cheung, C. H., Brandeis, D., Banaschewski, T., Asherson, P., McLoughlin, G., & Kuntsi, J. (2016). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Remission Is Linked to Better Neurophysiological Error Detection and Attention-Vigilance Processes. Biological Psychiatry, 80(12), 923–932. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.06.021

Michelini, G., Kitsune, G. L., Hosang, G. M., Asherson, P., McLoughlin, G., & Kuntsi, J. (2016). Disorder-specific and shared neurophysiological impairments of attention and inhibition in women with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and women with bipolar disorder. Psychological Medicine, 46(3), 493–504. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291715001877

Michelini, G., Eley, T. C., Gregory, A. M., & McAdams, T. A. (2015). Aetiological overlap between anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity symptom dimensions in adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(4), 423–431. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12318

Supervision

Current PhD opportunities:

• Psychosocial factors promoting positive outcomes in neurodivergent young people: the role of environmental sensitivity
• Neurodiversity and mental health