Scientist Profiles G-L

Sunnybrook Research Institute

Krista Lanctôt PhD

Senior Scientist

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room FG 05
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5


Phone: 416.480.6100, ext. 2241
Fax: 416.480.6022

Administrative Assistant: Abby Li
Email: abby.li@sunnybrook.ca

Education:

  • PhD, 1998, Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Canada

Appointments and Affiliations:

Research Focus:

  • Pharmacotherapy: neuropsychiatric symptoms secondary to CNS pathology

Research Summary:

Neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with illness include mood changes, apathy, aggression and cognitive changes.  These are common sequelae of many central nervous system disorders such as dementia, traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular disease and stroke. Dr. Lanctôt's goal is to optimize the psychopharmacological management of these neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Current research addresses this goal by determining underlying neurobiology of neuropsychiatric symptoms, examining predictors of treatment response, using novel pharmacological agents, and carefully considering adverse drug events. Dr. Lanctôt's early focus was on neurobiology of behavioural disorders associated with dementia. The goal of this research was to determine if behavioural subtypes can be linked to underlying neurochemical or neuropathologic dysfunction. A variety of tools including neuroimaging, pharmacogenetics and pharmacologic challenges are used in combination with pharmacotherapeutic trials. This research will contribute to our understanding of the link between dysfunction in various neurotransmitters and neuropsychiatric symptoms. As such, it may allow Dr. Lanctôt's team to predict response to medications based on behavioral subtypes. At a broader level, it can provide the background for novel therapies.

A second focus of research evaluates the impact of pharmacologic treatments at a population level, which includes measuring relevant health outcomes, quality of life and modelling cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of pharmacotherapies.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

  1. Swardfager W, Herrmann N, Dowlati Y, Oh PI, Kiss A, Walker SE, Lanctôt KL. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activation and depressive symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2009 Nov;34(10):1560-6 (e-pub 18-Jun-2009 doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.05.019) senior responsible author
  2. Dowlati Y, Herrmann N, Swardfager W, Liu H, Sham L, Reim EK, Lanctôt KL.  A meta-analysis of cytokines in major depression.  Biol Psychiatry 2010 Mar;67(5):446–457 [Dec 14. Epub ahead of print doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.09.033] senior responsible author 
  3. Lanctôt KL, Rapoport MJ, Chan F, Rajaram R, Strauss J, Sicard T, McCullagh S, Feinstein A, Kiss A, Kennedy JL, Bassett AS, Herrmann N.  Genetic predictors of response to treatment with citalopram in depression secondary to traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury 2010;24(7-8):959-69. [e-pub 2010-Jun-03]
  4. Mitchell R, Herrmann N, Lanctôt KL.  The role of dopamine in symptoms and treatment of apathy in Alzheimer’s Disease.  CNS Neurosci Therapeutics  2010-Jun-16 [e-pub ahead of print]
  5. Dowlati Y, Herrmann N, Swardfager W, Thomson S, Oh P, Van Uum S, Koren G, Lanctôt KL.  Relationship between hair cortisol concentrations and depressive symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease.  Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2010 Jun 25;6:393-400 (online 25-Jun-2010)
  6. Rothenburg LS, Herrmann N, Swardfager WL, Black SE, Tennen G, Gladstone DJ, Ween J, Snaiderman A, Lanctôt KL. The relationship between inflammatory markers and post-stroke cognitive impairment. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2010 Jul 2 [e-Pub].  doi:10.1177/0891988710373598)

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