Marieke Langen

 

Contact Details

Neuroimaging Research Group
UMC Utrecht | Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Neuroimaging Lab (NICHE)
T: +31 88 - 755 3335
E: m.langen@umcutrecht.nl
Mail: PO Box 85500 - HP A01.468-431 - 3508 GA Utrecht - The Netherlands

 

 

Curriculum Vitae

In 1994, I started my studies in Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University. After finishing the first year, I switched to Psychology. In 2001, I successfully completed my degree, specialising in Neuropsychology, with a thesis and fMRI study investigating cognitive functioning of the hippocampus. After working as a research assistant structural neuroimaging at the Department of Psychiatry of the UMC Utrecht for 17 months, I started as project co-ordinator for a non-governmental organisation in the field of developmental and international co-operation in January 2003. In May 2005 I returned to neuroscience and began my PhD project at NICHE, the neuroimaging lab at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht. I finished my project in September 2009. From August 2008 until February 2009, I worked as a research associate at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College, London. From May 2009, I have been appointed as a post-doctoral researcher at NICHE.

 

Current Research Projects

My projects combine several imaging techniques (including structural MRI and DTI) with behavioral assessments (clinical interviews and neurocognitive tasks) to investigate neurobiological correlates in the etiology of autism. My projects aim to assess the development of autism over time by including longitudinal assessments.

I am particularly interested in the involvement of fronto-striatal circuitry in the repetitive and stereotyped behavior seen in autistic individuals. In my most recent paper we demonstrate differential developmental trajectories for striatal structures in children with autism, using sMRI. In connection to these findings, current and future projects include investigating involvement of corticostriatal circuitry in children with autism using DTI, and longitudinal studies of both sMRI and DTI data in a large sample of children with autism. 

On December 22nd 2009, I defended my PhD thesis.  A summary of my thesis:

Repetitive behaviour in autism: Imaging pathways and trajectories
Repetitive and rigid behaviour is one of the core symptoms of autism, a severe and lifelong child psychiatric disorder.  Although repetitive behaviour symptoms often form a significant impairment for affected individuals, systematic study of the phenomenology and in particular the neurobiology of repetitive behaviour has been lacking.
In my thesis, I address this gap by using neuroimaging techniques (structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetisation transfer imaging) to investigate brain differences associated with repetitive behaviour in autism. I compared groups of individuals (children and adolescents, as well as adults) with and without autism and examined anatomical differences in specific structures and networks of the brain and related these to behavioural measurements. Furthermore, I explored the involvement of differences in developmental trajectories of these structures and networks in autism.
My studies demonstrate that corticostriatal grey and white matter follow altered developmental trajectories in autism when compared to controls, and implicate corticostriatal circuitry in the repetitive behaviour which characterises the disorder.
In addition to the experimental work, my thesis includes two reviews on the neurobiology of repetitive behaviour. These theoretical studies emphasise the need for research strategies that take (1) the heterogeneity of autism, and (2) the etiologic overlap with other disorders into account.


 

Publications

  • Langen M, Kas MJH, Staal WG, Van Engeland H, Durston S. The neurobiology of repetitive behaviour: of mice… Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2010 (in press).

  • Langen M, Durston S, Kas MJH, Van Engeland H, Staal WG. The neurobiology of repetitive behaviour: ...and men. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2010 (in press).

  • Langen M, Schnack HG, Nederveen GH, Bos, D, Lahuis, BE, De Jonge, MV, Van Engeland, H, Durston S. Changes in the Developmental Trajectories of Striatum in Autism. Biological Psychiatry, 2009, 66(4):327-333.

  • Durston S, Nederveen GH, Van Dijk S, Van Belle J, De Zeeuw P, Langen M, Van Dijk A. MR­simulation is effective for reducing anxiety related to MR scanning in children.  J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 2009, 48(2):206.

  • Langen M, Durston S, Staal W, Palmen S, Van Engeland, H. Caudate Nucleus Is Enlarged  In High-Functioning Medication-Naive Subjects With Autism. Biological Psychiatry, 2007, 62(3):262-266.

  • Hulshoff Pol HE, Brans RGH, van Haren NEM, Schnack HG, Langen M, Baaré WFC, van Oel CJ, Kahn RS. Gray and white matter volume abnormalities in monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 2004,55(2):126-130.