Reward processing in gender incongruency

This project systematically investigates sex differences in brain networks involved in reward processing during puberty. In collaboration with the Hong Lab at Stanford University, functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will be used to study adolescents who identify as transgender and cisgender. This will help us to better understand the development of the neural reward system as a function of sex hormones.

New insights into the role of sex hormones in the development of the reward system in the brain could provide crucial knowledge about gender differences in the onset and manifestation of depression in adolescence. This project contributes to improving the understanding of transgender health, promotes the well-being of sexual and gender minorities in adolescence, and integrates the findings on sex differences into clinical practice in child and adolescent psychiatry. The project is funded by the Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation (2021 Young Investigator Grant, Iliana I. Karipidis).