Professor Paul Grasby FMedSci
Home Office Scientist
Elected Fellow 2001
application of PET and MRI imaging to the biology of major mental illness and psychotropic drug action
Professor Paul Grasby is Professor of Psychiatry at Imperial College and Head of Psychiatry Research at the MRC Cyclotron Unit. He has developed and used positron emission tomography to study behaviour and cognitive function. His work is a splendid example of the use of modern imaging techniques to understand the basis of disease in individual patients and move this understanding to the development of new treatment. He played a major role in development of the first radiotracer for imaging the human 5-HT receptor for the study of depressive disorder. This led to the investigation of the mechanism of pindolol and its augmentation of treatment with selective serotonin receptor inhibitors.