People

My research focuses on functional and structural plasticity with learning and rehabilitation in both humans and rodents.

I use behavioural training interventions and test how factors such as performance level or amount of practice influence brain changes at a functional, structural and neurochemical level in humans (fMRI, rs-fMRI, DTI and MR spectroscopy).

Additionally, I use real-time neurofeedback fMRI to test if endogenous brain activity modulation can lead to functional brain changes and behavioural improvements in healthy participants and chronic stroke survivors.

My preclinical work focuses on the underlying cellular mechanisms of brain plasticity, with a focus on white matter and myelination.

• Interventions for mood and cognitive recovery after stroke: music based interventions; positive psychotherapy
• Sleep difficulties following brain injury
• Implementation of evidence based care 
• Cognitive rehabilitation interventions (eg Goal Management Training) inc. functional imaging of their effects
• Neuropsychological assessment of attention, memory and executive functions in the context of brain injury and healthy ageing

Stroke medicine, Neurology, Neuroradiology

In August 2014 I retired from the NHS after 36 years’ service, latterly as Consultant Medical Physicist, Head of Instrumentation, NHS Tayside where I was collaborator in the establishment of the Dundee ultrasound team.

I hold an Honorary Chair in Bio-engineering at Dundee and am a visiting professor to Strathclyde. With these roles, I  have been able to continue my research interests in the application of Medical Ultrasound both for imaging and therapy. These include  Quality Assurance, clinical applications (the development of both devices and applications), Regulation and teaching.  Sono-elastography, interventional guidance and HIFU have been areas of particular interest as my focus has always been on the technology clinical interface and translation into practice.

Structural brain ageing

White matter disease

Cognitive ageing

Stroke

Image Analysis

Alzheimer's disease and other dementias

Neural stem cell therapy for stroke: A rodent based project to identify potential MRI indices of functional recovery

Stroke is leading cause of severe disability in adults. The clot-buster, Alteplase is the only licensed drug available to treat acute stroke patients however, this is only available to a small percentage of total sufferers and must be administered within the first 4.5 hours after the onset of the stoke. Although substantial research has been carried out to develop new therapies for acute brain damage and chronic disability, the translation from bench-to-bedside has proved to be a significant hurdle.

Many groups have focused on administering stem cells of patient-own or external origin to enhance brain repair. The use of  the conditionally immortalized human neural stem cell line CTX0E03 to treat sub-acute/chronic stroke is soon to enter Phase II clinical trials.

My project is an adjunct to existing pre-clinical work; aiming to understand  how the cells improve recovery using clinically applicable MRI methodologies.

I have successfully developed functional tests suitable of detecting long term functional changes post stroke. With the support of Dr Jozien Goense, we have set up resting-state fMRI in the anaesthetised rodent. With this technique at our disposal, we hope to identify indices of functional improvement in resting-state sensorimotor networks and values derived from the diffusion tensor, which may correlated with improved sensorimotor function.

This is a SPIRIT funded studentship; the stem cell technology, surgical equipment, training and a contribution of supervision for this project are supplied by industrial partner, ReNeuron ltd. (Guildford, UK).

I am a registered STEM ambassador and have participated in outreach events with EuroStemCell.