• Dynamic functional connectivity in neonates during active and quiet sleep: Functional MRI (fMRI) tells us how different areas of the brain function together. The brain moves through different states, and this dynamic functional connectivity (FC) is key to understanding how the brain works in health, and in neurodevelopmental conditions like autism. However, dynamic FC has only ever been examined in adults. Because how the brain matures in early childhood impacts upon later development; and because neurodevelopmental conditions start early in life; we must look at infants. We aim to identify active and quiet sleep states in neonates using breathing patterns and map dynamic FC during sleep states in more than 600 fMRI datasets already acquired from sleeping newborns. We can then compare dynamic FC from a test sample of babies who are at a higher likelihood of developing conditions, like autism, against this reference. If we are successful with this pilot, future studies will examine i) what alters the maturation of dFC (informing prevention); and ii) whether newborn dynamic FC predicts childhood outcomes (informing intervention). This project was generously funded by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award in Science. See a related publication here: Neonatal brain dynamic functional connectivity in term and preterm infants and its association with early childhood neurodevelopment

• Brain Health in Gen2020: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on global health and has raised many questions about its long-term effects, particularly on children born to mothers who were infected during pregnancy. Previous studies have shown that maternal viral infections can increase the likelihood of neurodevelopmental difficulties, mental illness, and cognitive difficulties in some (but not all) children, but direct research on the consequences of prenatal exposure to infection in humans is challenging. The Brain Health in Gen2020 research programme seeks to change this with tightly integrated pre-clinical and clinical investigations to discover how and in whom, prenatal exposure to maternal infection with SARS-CoV-2 might alter the cellular machinery of the fetal brain; and if this ‘feeds-forward’ to influence the maturation of brain and the immune system from the perinatal period into childhood. We work together with the Gen2020 clinical team, co-leading on the imaging work package. Check more information about the project here.

Other projects in which we collaborate:

• Brain conductivity as a biomarker for neurodevelopmental outcome funded by an MRC Impact Acceleration Award.

• Immersive and interactive Virtual Reality and ultra-high field MRI for awake studies of the neural correlates of social processing in early childhood and autism generously funded by Action Medical Research

We typically have PhD projects available as part of the MRC DTP and the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre For RA opportunities please check here