Dr Shabah Shadli

Lecturer - School of Science and Technology

Mobile: 0415129266

Biography

My main field of expertise is mental health, specializing in mood disorders. I use a range of methods including EEG and source localization (sLORETA) together with pharmacological interventions. The laboratory in which I did my PhD developed the first biomarker for any anxiety disorder; and my PhD developed an improved form of this biomarker suitable for use in the clinic. I have continued to develop this; and am now also involved in finding a new treatment for treatment-resistant (TR) anxiety and depression – using off label drug Ketamine to treat TR anxious and depressed patients. I particularly want to find out how ketamine exerts its immediate anti-anxiety and antidepressants effects in TR patients. My current work involves a search for a response biomarker to understand the mechanism of action of ketamine using EEG, fMRI and blood samples. One problem with ketamine is its dissociative side effects, which limit its use in the clinical setting. My future aim is to find a similar potent drug without side effects, which would allow general clinical use. My research goal is to better understand the pathophysiology of anxiety and depressive disorders, their comorbidity, and their potential treatment.

Qualifications

PhD

Awards

Emerging researchers award of Otago Medical Society Research Staff

Teaching Areas

A walk through the brain; Clinical Neuroscience

Primary Research Area/s

Mental Health, ; Anxiety and Depression

Research Interests

Understanding the pathophysiology of anxiety and depressive disorders, their comorbidity and their potential treatment.

Grants

2021 – PI, Major Equipment Grant, Lottery Health: “Shared equipment for an Electroencephalograpy (EEG) in Otago Psychology department” ($110,000).

2020 – NI, Project Grant, Health Research Council of NZ: “Ketamine therapy for ‘neurotic’ disorders: is there a single mechanism?” ($1,438829.00)

2019 – NI, Project Grant, Health Research Council of NZ: “Do hippocampus, insula and amygdala contribute to an anxiety syndrome biomarker?” ($1090630.95)

2018 – NI, Laurenson Award, Otago Medical Research Foundation: “Ketamine therapy for ‘neurotic’ disorders: is there a single mechanism?” ($31,662)

Research Supervision Experience

Co supervisor of 3 PhD students

Publications

Shadli, SM, Martin, D, Glue, P and McNaughton, N. 2022. Does the effect of ketamine therapy on resting right frontal theta generalize to differences between anxiety and healthy volunteers? Frontiers in Neuroscience. 16:900105 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.900105 [IF~4.7]

Shadli, SM, McIntosh, J, Ando, L, Kirk,I, Lodhia, V, Glue, P and McNaughton, N. 2021. “Right frontal anxiolytic-sensitive EEG ‘theta’ rhythm in the stop-signal task is a theory-based anxiety disorder biomarker? Scientific Reports. 11 (1), 1-12 doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99374-x [IF~4.0]

Shadli, SM, Tewari, V, Holden, J, and McNaughton, N. 2021. Do left handers differ from right handers on a right-frontal EEG anxiety disorder biomarker? Cortex. 140, 210-221 doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.03.025 [IF~4.0]

Kaack, I, Chae, V, Shadli, SM,and Hillman, K.L. 2020. Approach motivation: correlations between self-report, frontal asymmetry and effortful task performance. Cognitive Affective and Behavioural Neuroscience. 20 (6), 1234-1247 doi.org/10.3758/s13415-020-00829-x [IF~3.2]

Glue, P, Neehoff, S, Shadli, SM, Sabadel, A, Broughton, L, McNaughton, N and Medlicott, NJ. 2020. Effects of ketamine in patients with treatment refractory Generalized Anxiety and Social Anxiety Disorders: double blind active controlled replication study. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 1-6 doi/10.1177/026988111987445 [IF~4.7]

Kawe, T, Shadli, SM and McNaughton, N. 2019. Frontal and posterior alpha asymmetry and Higuchi’s fractal dimension independently predict PID-5 depressivity and also anxiousness. Scientific Reports. 9(1) doi/ 10.1038/s41598-019-56229-w. [IF~4.0]

Shadli, SM, McIntosh, J, and McNaughton, N. 2019. Anxiety process "theta" biomarker in the stop signal task eliminated by a preceding relaxation test. Journal of Behavioural Neuroscience. //doi: 10.1037/bne0000328. [IF~2.5]

Sadeghi, S, McIntosh, J, Shadli, SM, Healey, D, Rostami, R, Trani, P and McNaughton, N. 2019. Does Behavioural Inhibition System dysfunction account for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Personality Neuroscience. 2 (5), 1-10 https://doi: 10.1017/pen.2019.5.

Shadli, SM, High, O, Byers, B. Gibbs, P. Steller, R, Glue, P. and McNaughton, N. 2019. Human anxiety-specific ‘theta’ occurs with selective stopping and localises to right inferior frontal gyrus. Behavioural Neuroscience, dx.doi.org/10.1037/bne0000316. [IF~2.5]

Shadli, SM, Kawe T, Martin, D, Glue, P and McNaughton, N. 2018. Ketamine effects on EEG during therapy of treatment-Resistant Generalized Anxiety and Social Anxiety. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 21 (8), 717–724. doi:10.1093/ijnp/pyy032. [IF~4.4]

Shenghuan Zhang, Julia McIntosh, Shadli, SM, Phoebe S-H. Neo, Zhiyi Zhi and Neil McNaughton. 2017. Removing eye blink artifacts from EEG – a single-channel physiology-based method. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 291, 213-220, doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2017.08.031 [IF~4.0]

Shadli, SM, Smith, M, Glue, P and McNaughton, N. 2016. Testing generalisation of an anxiety biomarker from an auditory to a visual stimulus. Biological Psychology, 117, 50-55, doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.02.011. [IF~3.0]

Shadli, SM, Glue, P, McIntosh, J, and McNaughton, N. 2015. An improved human anxiety-specific biomarker: personality, frequency band and pharmacology. Translational Psychiatry. 5 (12): e699. doi:10.1038/tp.2015.188. [IF~5.2]

Memberships

Member, Society for Neuroscience;

Member, Australian Cognitive Neuroscience Society;

Member, Australian Neuroscience Society;

Member of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies