Professor Mitul Mehta PhD

Mitul joined King’s College London as a post-doctoral researcher in Neuroimaging in 2003 with the aim of setting up a research group focussed on pharmacological neuroimaging using MRI methodology. He worked with positron emission tomography at Imperial College for a number of years as an MRC Training Fellow before moving to King’s. A Wellcome Trust Value in People Award enabled the transition. His work was recognised by the British Association for Psychopharmacology Young Investigator Award. At King’s his group brought quantitative methods to identify drug mechanisms and classify different compounds and used classic tracking methods (phMRI) to develop assays of drug modulation. These methods are utilised to understand existing compounds as well as assay novel compounds and we have tested various mechanisms, including in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.

Currently, Mitul is Head of the Neuropharmacology Group and Section in the Department of Neuroimaging, Theme Lead of Experimental Medicine and Novel Therapeutics at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health and Director of the IoPPN Centre for Innovative Therapeutics. Outside of King’s he has served on the Council for the British Association for Psychopharmacology as a member (2011-2014) and meetings secretary (2015-2020).

Research interests

Mitul has a keen interest in brain modulation methods, primarily with pharmacological agents with a goal to enhance research into novel treatment in psychiatric and neurological syndromes. He works on all stages of the research process in humans, including practical aspects of study design and implementation, novel task development, image acquisition and analytical approaches. He has examined drugs that target dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin, glutamate, acetycholine and histamine receptors as well as intracellular modulators. Our work is relevant for multiple syndromes including ADHD, schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson’s disease.

Teaching

• Research Methods
• Pharmacological Imaging

Expertise and public engagement

Mitul has been involved with the British Association for Psychopharmacology in organising the annual Summer Meeting, including a lecture for the public. He also co-leads a biennial residential course in non-clinical psychopharmacology.

He have acted as a consultant to various companies and sat on advisory boards.

In terms of public engagement, he and group members regularly work with the scientific or general media on articles, interviews, programming. They had a live experiment to showcase psychopharmacology research at the Science Gallery.