MEETINGS & PRESENTATIONS
Over the two-year project period, there will be six consensus-oriented meetings
held in the Washington, D.C. area. The dates and registration information
for the meetings will be available through this website.
A published workshop report or summary will follow each meeting that disseminates the results.
2003
2004
-
Conference 4 - January
22, 2004
NIMH Neuroscience Center (NSC), Bethesda, MD
NIMH-Industry Collaboration Meeting
-
Conference 5 - April 23,
2004
FDA/NIMH Joint Meeting on assessment of cognition as endpoint in clinical
trials
-
Conference 6 - September
9-10 2004
New Approaches to Assessing and Improving Cognition in Schizophrenia
2005
Matrics Presentations at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research, April 2005
CONFERENCE 1
Identifying Cognitive Targets and Establishing Criteria for Test Selection
Conference Chair: Michael F. Green, Ph.D.
- Dates and Registration
- Held April 14 - 15 at the Bolger Center in Potomac, MD.
- Agenda
& Slides
-
- April 14th, 2003
- The first day will include a welcome from Tom Insel, Director
of NIMH, and an overview of the MATRICS Program. Starting after
lunch, there will be a series of presentations on cognitive topics
that will be followed by ample periods of discussion and participation
by the invited experts. The first meeting will also include discussion
with the representatives from the FDA focused on understanding their
perspective on issues related to measurement selection.
- April 15th, 2003
- The presentations will continue on the morning of the second day
until around 11AM. When the presentations conclude, the Neurocognition
Committee will meet to review and discuss the information presented.
This information will be used to help guide decisions regarding
(a) the cognitive targets
for pharmacological intervention, and (b)
the most desirable criteria for selection of a neurocognitive battery.
A later consensus meeting will be held to evaluate candidate cognitive
batteries and to select a consensus battery. Decisions will be reached
at the first meeting regarding a standard format for evaluation
of candidate batteries submitted for consideration at conference
#3.
- Goals of Conference
-
- To develop a consensus among a diverse group of academic and industry
scientists as to what is known about the types and magnitudes of
cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Emphasis will be given to identifying
deficits that contribute uniquely to individual heterogeneity in
cognitive deficits within schizophrenia.
- To develop a consensus among a diverse group of academic and industry
scientists as to the most fruitful cognitive targets for pharmacological
intervention in schizophrenia. Emphasis will be given to those deficits
linked to functional outcome.
- To develop a consensus among a diverse group of academic and industry
scientists as to the most desirable criteria to use for selection
of cognitive tests.
- Process
- The goals of the first conference will be achieved by using a consensus
building approach. Prior to the meeting, approximately 70 “experts”
will be invited to participate in a phone interview. The experts will
represent the following areas:
- clinical trials methodology
- cognitive neuroscience
- cognitive science
- neuropharmacology
- psychometrics/test development
- outcome assessment
biostatistics
The interview will include open-ended questions about issues critical
to the selection of a neurocognitive test battery to assess cognitive
changes in schizophrenia. Areas to be covered within the interview
include questions about:
- reliability
- predictive validity for functional outcome
- required training for test administrators
- importance of normative data and test interpretation
- coverage of cognitive domains
- duration of the test battery
- relative importance of test qualities
- types of outcome assessment
- nomination of opinion leaders
Participants will also be asked to rate the importance of test criteria
within selected areas. A summary of the responses obtained from the
interviews will be shared with members of the MATRICS Neurocognition
Committee, but not in a way that identifies the individual respondents.
The results from the two-day meeting will be summarized in a special article
to be published in a journal agreed upon by NIMH and the Neurocognition
Committee. The article will briefly review the content of the presentations
and will concentrate on a summary of the facilitated discussions and the
recommendations of the group. If there are conflicting points of view, these
will be reflected in the manuscript. The manuscript will be reviewed by
all members of the Neurocognition Committee for accuracy and completeness
prior to submission for publication.
Conference #2
Neuropsychopharmacological approaches to modulating cognition in schizophrenia:
Approaches to identifying promising compounds
Conference Co-Chairs: Carol Tamminga, M.D. & Mark Geyer, Ph.D.
- Dates and Registration
- June 23 - 24, 2003 at the National Institute of Health (NIH) campus
Building 31 in Bethesda, MD.
National Institutes of Health Building 31, 6th floor
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20892
Conference Room # 10
Phone (301) 496-9966
Information and Registration
Materials
Agenda, Slides
and Transcripts
- Goals of Conference
-
- To develop a consensus among a diverse group of academic and industry
scientists as to the most promising neural system targets for improving
cognition in schizophrenia.
- To develop a consensus among the same group of scientists as to
the most promising models for use in drug development in the area
of cognition in schizophrenia. This will include animal models –
including non-human primate models – and human models.
- To develop a consensus among the same group of scientists regarding
the most promising available compounds for study in the immediate
future. This will be separated into compounds that may be incorporated
into controlled and pilot trials in humans as well as compounds
that should be studied through animal models.
- June 23, 2003
- The first day will include a welcome from Ellen Stover, Director,
NIMH Division of Mental Disorders, Behavioral Research, and AIDS, and
an overview of the MATRICS Program provided by Wayne Fenton, M.D. (NIMH
Project Officer) and Steve Marder, M.D. (MATRICS P.I.). MATRICS updates
for the Neurocognition and Government/Industry Committees will be provided
by Michael Green, Ph.D., Keith Nuechterlein, Ph.D., and Dan Bush, Ph.D.
The morning session will conclude with a summary of the findings from
the Neuropharmacology interview, presented by Robert Buchanan, M.D.
After lunch, there will be a series of presentations on neuropharmacological
topics that will be followed by ample discussion time for the conference
attendees.
- June 24, 2003
- The presentations will continue on the second day until 5 PM. When
the presentations conclude, the Neuropharmacology Committee will meet
to review and discuss the opinions expressed and information learned
from the meeting. This information will be used to help guide decisions
regarding the most promising neuropharmacological targets, animal and
human models for use in drug development, and available compounds, as
well as the methods used to evaluate them. The RAND Panel meeting to
be held in September will be used to evaluate the most promising candidates.
A decision will be reached at the first meeting regarding a standard
format for evaluation of candidate targets submitted for consideration.
- Process
- Similar to conference #1, the goals will be achieved by using a consensus
building approach. Prior to the meeting, approximately 60 "experts"
will be invited to participate in a phone interview. The experts will
represent the following areas:
- Cognitive Neuroscience (examination of neural systems underlying
cognitive deficits or underlying schizophrenia)
- Cognitive Science (measurement of cognitive processes in normal
individuals or in other disorders)
- Neuropharmacology in Animals
- Neuropharmacology in Humans
The interview includes open-ended questions and ratings. Areas to be
covered include:
- Pharmacological and methodological issues
- Identification of receptor or molecular targets of interest
- Criteria to be considered for evaluating potential targets and
agents
- Issues concerning the phenomenology of cognitive dysfunction in
schizophrenia
A summary of the responses obtained from the interviews will be shared
with members of the MATRICS Neuropharmacology Committee, but not in
a way that identifies the individual respondents. The results from the
two-day meeting will be summarized in a special article, or series of
articles, to be published in a journal agreed upon by NIMH and the Neuropharmacology
Committee. The article(s) will briefly review the content of the presentations
and will concentrate on a summary of the facilitated discussions and
the recommendations of the group. If there are conflicting points of
view, these will be reflected in the manuscript.
Conference #3
RAND Panels for Evaluation of Candidate Neurocognitive Tests
Conference Chairs
Neurocognition Panel: Keith H. Nuechterlein, Ph.D. (Chair) and Michael
F. Green, Ph.D. (Co-chair)
- Dates and Registration
- September 29, 2003
Registration by invitation only.
Materials used
by the RAND Panel to arrive at its ratings of each criterion of the
candidate neurocognition tests.
Results of the MATRICS RAND Panel Meeting:
Average
Medians for the Categories of Each Candidate Test
Psychometric Validation Study - Cognitive
Battery, beta version
MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery
for Clinical Trials, Beta Version
- Goals of Conference
- Neurocognition
- To evaluate various cognitive tests and batteries according to
the criteria that were prioritized in the first consensus conference.
The first part of the evaluations will occur by the panelists prior
to the meeting. The final phase of evaluations will occur at the
consensus meeting.
- To arrive at a recommendation for a core cognitive battery based
on the evaluations of the panelists. The RAND Panel Method will
be used to facilitate agreement.
- Process
- The Neurocognition goals will be achieved by using a modification
of the RAND/UCLA Panel Method. The objective of the RAND/UCLA Panel
Method is to enhance agreement among experts in making decisions based
on incomplete databases. The process is an iterative one in which experts
initially provide anonymous ratings on selected questions or criteria
prior to a face-to-face meeting with other experts who have rated the
same items. At the conference, each member of the panel sees their ratings
vis-à-vis those of the other panelists. After discussion, all panelists
re-rate the same questions.
Neurocognition Panel: Initially, the Neurocognition
Committee will review all of the tests nominated by experts at the
April meeting for consideration in the battery and reduce the list
to approximately six tests per neurocognitive domain. The Committee
will then select 7 to 15 experts to serve as panelists drawn from
different areas of expertise to represent differing views in the field.
The panelists will be provided an overview of the relevant scientific
literature on each measure to be considered. The scope of the material
included in the literature review will be decided by the members of
the Neurocognition Committee and will be guided by the survey results
from the April conference. The format for presentation of information
will also be decided by members of the Committee. Each panelist will
be provided information about the candidate tests prior to making
their initial ratings. Each test will be evaluated, first in a pre-conference
survey, and then at the meeting, according to the criteria agreed
upon at the first conference. At the conference, the panelists will
be shown how their ratings of the candidate tests compare with those
of the rest of the panelists. All entries will be anonymous. The Chair
and Co-chair will facilitate discussion of the ratings and elicit
input from all panelists. Following discussion, the panelists will
re-rate the candidate tests. The ratings will then be tabulated and
results summarized shortly after the meeting. The meeting will be
open to all interested persons, however only the panelists will be
involved in the ratings. The results from the meeting will be summarized
in a special article and published in a journal agreed upon by the
Neurocognition Committee and NIMH.
Conference
#4
NIMH-Industry Collaboration Meeting
- Conference Co-Chairs:
- Edward Scolnick, M.D., President Emeritus, Merck Research Laboratories
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., Director, National Institute of Mental Health
Herbert Pardes, M.D., Vice Chairman, President & CEO, New York Presbyterian
Hospital
- Dates and Registration
- January 22, 2004
NIMH Neuroscience Center (NSC)
6001 Executive Blvd.
Bethesda, Maryland 20852
Registration: Limited Space on Site
- Goals of the Conference
- A series of NIH-wide roadmap activities to enhance public-industry-academic
collaborations have been recently initiated. In that context, this NIMH
meeting has been revised to reflect the specific strategic planning
needs in this area. We will address three questions related to NIMH
treatment development activities:
- Where across the spectrum of drug discovery and development can
NIMH play a useful and non-duplicative role in hastening the identification
of new treatments for mental illness?
- How can the resources of NIMH, including its large clinical trial
networks, be used in public private partnerships to address important
public health questions and/or hasten treatment development?
- What are the major barriers to future intramural and extramural
government-industry collaboration and how can they be best overcome?
Conference #5
FDA-NIMH-MATRICS Workshop on Clinical Trial Designs for Neurocognitive
Drugs for Schizophrenia
Conference Chair: Robert Buchanan, M.D.
- Dates and Registration
April 23 2004
Neuroscience Center, Conference Room C
6001 Executive Boulevard
Rockville, Maryland 20852
-
- Registration Open
Agenda
Guidelines from the FDA-NIMH-MATRICS Workshop on Clinical Trial Designs
for Neurocognitive Drugs for Schizophrenia
Transcript (WORD)
Transcript (pdf)
- Goals of Conference
-
- To develop a consensus among a diverse group of academic and industry
scientists as to the most promising clinical trial designs for studying
candidate agents that may improve cognition in schizophrenia. This
will include both small pilot/proof of concept studies as well as
larger controlled trials.
- To develop a consensus among the same group of scientists as to
the advantages and disadvantages of forming a clinical trials network
for the study of agents for improving cognition in schizophrenia.
- To develop a consensus among the same group of scientists regarding
critical study implementation issues such as characteristics of
study populations, including medication status; development of reliability
for study instruments; ethical and human use issues; regulatory
issues; data management; and other issues.
Conference #6
New Approaches to Assessing and Improving Cognition in Schizophrenia
Conference Chair: Mark Geyer, Ph.D.
- Dates and Registration
- September 9-10, 2004
Bolger Center
Potomac, MD
Agenda &
Slides
Transcript
- Day 1
Transcript
- Day 2
- Goals of Conference
-
- To develop a research agenda that will translate emerging advances
in cognitive neurosciences into new strategies for characterizing
and quantifying the cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.
- To develop a research agenda that will translate emerging advances
in cognitive neurosciences into new strategies for identifying promising
neural system targets for improving cognition in schizophrenia.
- To assess the prospects for developing new imaging-based biomarkers
linked to efficacy for improving cognition in schizophrenia.
Matrics Presentations at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research, April 2005
Michael Green, Ph.D.
Mark Geyer, Ph.D.
Keith Nuechterlein, Ph.D.
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