Abstracts
Closing the loop: using brain network readouts to optimise neuromodulation
Cameron Higgins
Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), hold immense promise but face a critical challenge: determining the optimal stimulation protocol for specific conditions. Current approaches often rely on iterative parameter tuning and hypothesis testing, which, while effective in research, can lead to fixed clinical protocols that may not account for individual variability. We are developing technology that uses real-time measurements of brain network activity to guide and optimise stimulation parameters. By directly linking stimulation effects to measurable network changes, this approach has the potential to personalise therapy and improve patient outcomes.
The Baseline Biomarker Check (BBC) Clinic: Leveraging Brain Technologies to Advance Early Psychosis Care
Graham Blackman
Psychotic disorders are a major cause of severe mental illness, with diverse underlying causes necessitating personalized diagnostic and treatment approaches. The Baseline Biomarker Check (BBC) clinic is a newly established initiative that integrates cutting-edge brain technologies to enhance early psychosis care. Focused on individuals experiencing first-episode psychosis, the clinic employs a comprehensive multi-modal phenotyping approach that incorporates routine and novel candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment prediction. Participants, recruited from early intervention services in Oxford, undergo detailed assessments, including clinical interviews, neurological and cognitive evaluations, and advanced neuroimaging. The neuroimaging protocol combines clinically optimized MRI sequences for radiological insights with research-focused techniques, such as MRS and fMRI, to evaluate potential biomarkers. By integrating clinical and neuroimaging data, the BBC clinic seeks to revolutionize early psychosis management, bridging the gap between research and clinical application to advance precision psychiatry and improve patient outcomes.
Advanced MRI biomarkers in paediatric traumatic brain injury
Izabelle Lovgren
Traumatic brain injuries are common in young people. Despite this, research into the effects of head trauma on the adolescent brain is scarce. One factor limiting our understanding of head injuries is the absence of reliable predictors of outcome. Specifically, conventional clinical assessment tools appear insufficiently sensitive to the aspects of brain injury that determine long-term outcome and recovery. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide detailed information about neuronal microstructure, levels of brain chemicals, functional connectivity, and the presence of traumatic cerebral microbleeds, among other features. By combining advanced MRI techniques with questionnaires and a cognitive task, we aim to identify imaging biomarkers of traumatic brain injury that could help us better predict how well a child will recover after a head injury.
The optic nerve head as a biomarker for paediatric intracranial hypertension
Akudziwe Mawere
About one in 100,000 children are affected by intracranial hypertension (IH) which is a condition of raised intracranial pressure (ICP) associated with a risk of disability and death. Children at risk of IH may require ICP monitoring, and currently, the gold standard to assess ICP is invasive using intraventricular or intraparenchymal pressure transducers. There is a growing need to evaluate noninvasive biomarkers of IH and one such biomarker is the optic nerve head (ONH) which can be imaged using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Using OCT, Swanson et al. (2017) and Rufai (2023) identified potential ONH biomarkers of IH. However, their studies only evaluated the structural ONH at a single timepoint. There are knowledge gaps on the role of the vascular ONH in IH diagnostics and how ONH biomarkers evolve over time. I will be talking about how we are investigating these gaps in a prospective longitudinal study of children at risk of IH. We are evaluating serial OCT imaging of both structural and vascular ONH parameters against ICP measured using a gold standard method. The underlying hypotheses are that a combination of structural and vascular ONH biomarkers will improve the diagnostic accuracy for IH achievable from OCT, and that the ONH regresses to a steady state 3 months after exposure to a raised ICP. Understanding the evolution of the ONH over time will inform follow up of children at risk of IH and enable early identification of treatment failure.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal spectral differences in MEG brain networks differentiate Amyloid-positive Alzheimer’s patients
Mats van Es
Current diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is based on the presence of Amyloid-beta and Tau-protein in the brain, which requires invasive and costly examination. We investigated the potential of brain network dynamics as a biomarker for AD using MEG data. The research compared amyloid-positive patients to matched controls, and patients at baseline to two-week, and one year later.
We replicated previous findings of slowed oscillatory activity in the amyloid-positive group, with increased delta/theta (1-8 Hz) and decreased alpha/beta (8-30 Hz) power. Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) was employed to examine brain network dynamics, revealing widespread differences in network spectra between groups, and included increased gamma (80-120 Hz) power in patients. Most networks demonstrated high reliability. Longitudinal analysis identified a significant increase in high gamma power in a fronto-temporal network at one-year follow-up. These results suggest that brain network dynamics may offer sensitive and reliable biomarkers for AD.
Analysis Tools Facilitating OPM Integration in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience
Ole Jensen
Optically Pumped Magnetometers (OPMs) represent a new technology for magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings, and their deployment is rapidly increasing in the UK and around the world. These developments come with a need for robust analysis tools and training resources. We introduce OPM-FLUX, a standardized pipeline specifically designed for the analysis of OPM data. Initially built on MNE-Python, the pipeline will eventually include guidance for using OSL as well. FLUX-OPM consists of a series of Jupyter notebooks that cover essential steps such as preprocessing, event-related fields, spectral analysis, multivariate pattern analysis, and source modelling. The pipeline is centred around an OPM dataset formatted in MEG-BIDS, using data from spatial attention tasks. Each notebook includes comprehensive documentation, explanations of specific parameters, and graphical outputs to provide users with clear guidance on best practices. This structure also makes the pipeline suitable for training purposes. Future updates will aim to incorporate head models estimated from scalp surface data instead of structural MRIs, thereby reducing the cost of OPM research and expanding its applications in pediatric and clinical settings.
Translating Bioelectronic Systems: Pragmatic Strategies for Designing “Replacement Parts” for the Nervous System
Tim Denison
The total economic cost of neurological disorders exceeds £100B per annum in the UK alone. The emerging field of bioelectronic medicine provides an opportunity to use electronic hardware and software to intelligently sense and stimulate the nervous system, and thereby treat disease. I will summarize the challenges and opportunities of developing bioelectronic systems face that bridge basic science, regulated technology, and health care economics. This assessment motivates an innovation framework that leverages the unique capabilities of bioelectronic platforms -- from designing implantable scientific instruments that enable novel clinical neuroscience, to applying the resulting science to prototype new therapies. To provide an illustrative example of the innovation framework, I will highlight experiences from the “Picostim-DyNeuMo,” which is a collaborative, investigational research tool developed jointly by industry and academics. This system is targeting first-in-human clinical studies exploring challenging neurological disorders such as epilepsy, chronic pain, and disorders of consciousness.
Carinne Piekema
Brain diseases affect people from different ethnic backgrounds in different ways. For example, there is an exponential rise in the number of people living with age-related brain diseases such as dementia around the world. These diseases disproportionately affect people living in low- and middle-income countries, as well as those from minority ethnic groups in Western/European countries, including Black/African/Caribbean communities and South Asian communities. The purpose of our Inclusive Research project is to continually address under-representation of non-white ethnic groups in our research. This ongoing project has so far included updating our practical tools and methodologies to be more inclusive, as well as the development of longer-term relationships with diverse communities in Oxford to help us understand the priorities for these groups and the barriers they face taking part in our research.