People

I am a researcher in image analysis. I developed theoretical and application oriented methods. I have been working with different kind of images: medical, food, radar, robotic and forensic images. Recently I worked with skin lesion images and retinal images. See my 100+ publications (google scholar or researchgate) for more details

I am presently working MR brain images.

I am analysing subtle symptoms of cerebral SVD in in relation to imaging correlates, which is important in order to translate radiological evidence of ‘silent’ SVD into clinically significant outcomes. I am characterising these symptoms in relation to progression of SVD radiologically based on longitudinal disease progression on MRI. This work will allow us to identify those individuals with early features of SVD, before significant disease progression occurs. Identifying the disease early will be central to future dementia and stroke prevention. I am currently involved in the Mild Stroke Study 3, the R4VaD Study and the LACI-2 Study.

Supervisors: Prof. Joanna Wardlaw and Dr Fergus Doubal

Structural brain ageing

White matter disease

Cognitive ageing

Stroke

Image Analysis

Alzheimer's disease and other dementias

In my research, I create and apply data analysis tools to extract information from biomedical signals and clinical time series.

My main aim is to reveal the subtle changes that major diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's and epilepsy) cause in the brain activity.

In collaboration with researchers at Edinburgh, across the UK and overseas, I am currently working in the processing and analysis of biomedical signals, particularly human brain activity. By developing and applying signal processing methods, I aim at increasing our understanding of how several brain conditions progress. Of particular interest is the evaluation of brain functional connectivity in both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases to understand how they affect the way in which different brain regions interact with each other. I am also interested in the interplay between structure and function in the brain and in the application of pattern recognition techniques to highly-dimensional clinical datasets to support decision making. Finally, I also work in the development of non-invasive methods for rehabilitation purposes, being either the dexterous controls prostheses for amputees or brain-computer interfaces.

For additional information, please see: http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/jescuder

I am interested in the vulnerability of the ageing brain, especially changes cognitive ability and behaviour that can occur as part of healthy ageing, or as a result of diseases such as stroke or dementia.

My PhD project focuses on changes in cognitive ability in cerebral small vessel disease and how this might relate to structural brain changes that occur throughout the disease course.

During my PhD I have conducted a systematic review on the associations between domain specific cognitive ability and structural brain changes (visible on MRI) in sporadic small vessel disease. I am also employing structural equation modelling techniques to investigate the relationship between visible MRI markers of sporadic small vessel disease and cognitive ability longitudinally in several large cohorts.

My research aims to better characterise the cognitive symptomatology of cerebral small vessel disease and its trajectory over the disease course; examine how this relates to underlying changes in brain structure; and to explore how we can use neuroimaging, psychological and epidemiological data to more accurately predict outcomes for people with cerebral small vessel disease.

Supervisors: Professor Joanna Wardlaw and Professor Ian Deary