Diede Fennema

My research interests have always been versatile, allowing me to approach problems from different angles. I am currently settling down in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging which offer many exciting challenges and promises, especially in the context of potential for clinical applications in mood disorders.

As part of a KCL/IDOR Pioneer Science Fellowship, I am currently investigating the neural basis of self-blaming biases in major depressive disorder (MDD) and whether these biases represent state- or trait-related features, and whether they can be normalised by treatments. This project is linked to a larger Medical Research Council-funded validation study of previously identified neural and cognitive signatures as risk factors of recurrent MDD (“NESPRED”).

Before starting the fellowship, I joined the Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership (MRC DTP) programme at King’s College London in October 2018, working towards a PhD in Psychological Medicine under the supervision of Prof. Roland Zahn and Prof. Gareth Barker. My PhD investigated the value of neuroimaging biomarkers, related to emotional biases, in predicting response to treatment in MDD. The findings confirmed the pathophysiological relevance of these complementary neurocognitive aspects of MDD (specifically, self-blaming biases, emotional perception biases and dysfunction of task-independent neural networks) in capturing a meaningful proportion of clinical variability.

As part of my PhD, I also contributed to a National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded clinical trial exploring the feasibility of a novel computerised decision support algorithm to provide antidepressant treatment guidance for general practitioners in the UK primary care service.

After completing a BSc in Liberal Arts and Sciences from University College Roosevelt (The Netherlands) in 2013, I went on to do a MSc in Biomedical Sciences at University College London. For my research project, I joined the laboratory of Prof. Elizabeth Shephard, investigating the microbiome of mice with regard to age, gender, and a therapeutic in the context of trimethylaminuria.

Research Interests

• Major depressive disorder  
• Neuroimaging 
• Biomarkers