Dr. Emma Barkus was previously employed at the University of Manchester and the Institute of Psychiatry in the UK in research positions before coming to the University of Wollongong in 2010. Dr. Barkus brought with her a NARSAD fellowship and has since been involved in a Medical Research Council, UK, grant which was successful. Her research interests are ccentred on risk factors for psychosis including stress, drug use, subjective experiences with cannabis and genetics. Another focus of her research is identifying pharmacological treatments for the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. It is hoped that by identifying the mechanisms which underpin the risk factors for psychosis we can better understand the processes which lead someone to develop this often lifelong and severe disorder. Additionally with a greater understanding we will be in a better position to inform people about the risk attached to their lifestyle decisions.
Articles
A validation of cognitive biomarkers for the early identification of cognitive enhancing agents in schizotypy: a three-center double-blind placebo-controlled study (with Ivan Koychev, Katrina McMullen, Jane Lees, Rukiya Dadhiwala, Lois Grayson, Charlotte Perry, Anne Schmechtig, James Walters, Kevin J. Craig, Gerard R. Dawson, Colin T. Dourish, Ulrich Ettinger, Lawrence Wilkinson, Steven Williams, and John Francis William Deakin), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2012)
A number of compounds aimed at improving cognition in schizophrenia have failed to demonstrate efficacy...
Dissociation mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and hallucination-proneness. (with F Varese and R P. Bentall), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2012)
BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that the relationship between childhood trauma and hallucinations can be...
Auditory false perceptions are mediated by psychosis risk factors (with Richard Smallman, Natalie Royle, Chris Barkus, Shon Lewis, and Teresa Rushe), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2011)
Introduction. Auditory hallucinations exist in psychotic disorders as well as the general population. Proneness to...
Does intravenous delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol increase dopamine release? A SPET study (with Paul Morrison, D Vuletic, John Dickson, Peter Ell, Lyn Pilowsky, Rudolf Brenneisen, David Holt, John Powel, Shitij Kapur, and Robin Murray), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2011)
Intravenous (IV) Delt 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) induces transient psychotic symptoms in healthy subjects and in schizophrenic...
Evaluation of state and trait biomarkers in healthy volunteers for the development of novel drug treatments in schizophrenia (with Ivan Koychev, Ulrich Ettinger, Simon Killcross, Jonathan P. Roiser, Lawrence Wilkinson, and Bill Deakin), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2011)
Antipsychotic drugs are the mainstay of treatment for schizophrenia but they have little effect on...
Books
Understanding and Using Advanced Statistics (with Jeremy Foster and Christian Yavorsky), Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (2006)
The spread of sophisticated computer packages and the machinery on which to run them has...