Diana Prata is a Portuguese

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

who concentrates on identifying the biological basis of human behaviour. She reported the first evidence that

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

-risk genes can also predispose to

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

and has also investigated reasons why people respond differently to

antipsychotic Antipsychotics, previously known as neuroleptics and major tranquilizers, are a class of Psychiatric medication, psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), p ...

medications. She is head of the Biomedical Neuroscience Lab at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

Training

Diana Prata studied at secondary school in

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population of the municipality in 20 ...

, Portugal on the left bank of the River

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

, to the southwest of the Portuguese capital of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Between 1997 and 2002, she studied for a BSc and an MSc in biology at the

, obtaining an

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

scholarship for study in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. With the help of a

Leonardo da Vinci programme The Leonardo da Vinci programme is a European Commission funding programme focused on the teaching and training needs of those involved in professional education. The programme is part of the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme 200 ...

fellowship she moved to the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(KCL) and then obtained a grant from the Portuguese ''Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia'' (Science and Technology Foundation -FCT) to complete a PhD in

neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the neuroanatomy, structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive ...

genetics, which she obtained in 2008, with a thesis on the "Effect of Dopamine Regulating Genes on Regional Brain Function during Verbal Fluency in Controls and in Patients with Schizophrenia".

Career

Prata was awarded a

National Institute for Health Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government's major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "improv ...

post-doctoral fellowship in the UK to work on a multimodal

biomarker In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, ...

psychosis In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...

, and became a lecturer at KCL. After 12 years in the UK, she returned to Lisbon and founded her own research laboratory at the '' Instituto de Medicina Molecular''. The laboratory is now the Biomedical Neuroscience Lab (Diana Prata) at the Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering of the University of Lisbon, where she is a Marie Curie Fellow. In addition to the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, she has been awarded funding by the pharmaceutical company,

Bial Kempegowda International Airport is an international airport serving Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Spread over , it is located about north of the city near the suburb of Devanahalli. It is owned and operated by ...

and has received several FCT research grants. She continues to be a visiting lecturer at KCL and also lectures at the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. Her research has led to the first evidence that schizophrenia-risk genes can predispose to bipolar disorder. Her PhD research identified how genetic mutations affect

white matter White matter refers to areas of the central nervous system that are mainly made up of myelinated axons, also called Nerve tract, tracts. Long thought to be passive tissue, white matter affects learning and brain functions, modulating the distr ...

structure and brain activation. Her post-doctoral work described how mutations can explain why people respond differently to antipsychotics. She also initiated a biomarker study to try to predict who is likely to develop schizophrenia. More recently, using a range of

psychophysiological Psychophysiology (from Greek , ''psȳkhē'', "breath, life, soul"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology w ...

measures, she has been investigating the role of oxytoxin in the development of social skills. She is also aiming to develop biomarkers to help with clinical diagnosis and

prognosis Prognosis ( Greek: πρόγνωσις "fore-knowing, foreseeing"; : prognoses) is a medical term for predicting the likelihood or expected development of a disease, including whether the signs and symptoms will improve or worsen (and how quickly) ...

for

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. Prata has appeared on most Portuguese television stations, as well as on the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

and ''

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

''. She is often interviewed by Portuguese newspapers as well as writing opinion pieces. She has given a TEDx talk in Portugal.

Publications

Prata 's most cited peer-reviewed papers are: * DP Prata, A Mechelli, CHY Fu, M Picchioni, T Toulopoulou, E Bramon, et al. Epistasis between the DAT 3' UTR VNTR and the COMT Val158Met SNP on cortical function in healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' 106 (32), 13600-13605 * DP Prata, A Mechelli, CHY Fu, M Picchioni, F Kane, S Kalidindi et al. Opposite effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met on cortical function in healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia. ''Biological psychiatry'' 65 (6), 473–480 * DP Prata, G Breen, S Osborne, J Munro, DS Clair, DA Collier, et al. An association study of the neuregulin 1 gene, bipolar affective disorder and psychosis. ''Psychiatric genetics'' 19 (3), 113–116 * DP Prata, A Mechelli, CHY Fu, M Picchioni, F Kane, S Kalidindi, et al. Effect of disrupted-in-schizophrenia-1 on pre-frontal cortical function. ''Molecular psychiatry'' 13 (10), 915–917

References

External links

Diana Prata's TEDx talk (in English)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prata: Diana Living people Portuguese neuroscientists University of Lisbon alumni Academic staff of the University of Lisbon Alumni of King's College London 21st-century Portuguese women scientists Year of birth missing (living people)