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Imaging Science

We use cutting-edge imaging technologies to investigate structure and function in the human body, with a key focus on neuroscience. Our research encompasses the development of new acquisition and analysis methods and their optimal application in basic, cognitive and clinical neuroscience. A key theme is multi-modal neuroimaging, recognising the substantial benefits that follow from combining the insights into brain structure and function that different  methods offer. Most research staff in the Imaging Science group use two or more of our core technologies, which are MRI, MEG, EEG and TMS. These are all housed in a single research facility, CUBRIC. The Imaging Science group research has strong collaborative links with the Behavioural Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Perception and Action and Attention and Memory research groups.

Our research is organised into three themes:

Imaging Optimisation

  • How do we maximise the amount, as well as the accuracy, of information we extract using measures of brain structure and function?
  • What are the optimal ways to combine different imaging measures to provide novel insights into human brain function and its relationship to underlying structure?

Neurophysiological Imaging and Neurotransmitter Function

  • What are the causal links between the neurotransmitter GABA, behaviour and human brain function in health and disease?
  • What neurophysiological, metabolic and vascular events underlie FMRI signals and therefore how do we best interpret changes in neural activity using FMRI?

Clinical and Cognitive Imaging

  • What are the neural and information-processing substrates of multi-sensory perception, selective attention, long-term memory and cognitive control?
  • What structural and functional brain changes accompany healthy ageing, depression, autism spectrum disorder, vascular disease and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease?
  • How can brain imaging improve presurgical mapping in epilepsy and identify early disease onset in the dementias?