Contact information
Sources of Funding
- Medical Research Council
- British Medical Association
- HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust
D.Phil PROJECTS
Please contact me if you would like to discuss research D.Phil opportunities in MRI neuroimaging.
I am sorry that we are not able to offer research internships, shadowing, or other work experience placements due to limited space.
NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our brand-new online Oxford Clinical Neuroimaging Course is now live
If you are a clinical trainee, work with clinical populations, or generally have some experience with imaging and would like to learn more about the very practical uses of MRI in clinical settings, please do click on the link to see the full programme.
Incoming PhD students October 2023
A warm welcome to new DPhil candidates Akudziwe Mawere and Izabelle Lovgren, who will both be studying paediatric head trauma and related conditions.
Natalie Voets
MA (Oxon), D.Phil
Associate Professor
- Principal Investigator, FMRIB Centre/WIN
- Awake Intraoperative Neurosurgery Technician, OUH NHS Foundation Trust
Our research uses neuroimaging techniques to understand how the brain adapts to pathology, injury and treatment in order to improve neurosurgical approaches, outcomes and recovery.
Research Summary
Our translational research uses non-invasive MRI brain imaging techniques to understand how disease and damage affects brain function. Our main area of research is patients who are undergoing brain surgery to treat a brain tumour.
Our hope is that by developing a better understanding of the mechanisms that drive brain plasticity we may be able to identify patterns of brain activity predictive of risks and recovery after treatment. This multidisciplinary research, based at the FMRIB Centre, is conducted in close collaboration with the Oxford Neuro-Oncology Surgery service and the Oxford Epilepsy Surgery Programme as well as other neuroscientists and researchers in the Department of Engineering.
Additional translational interests include the effects of head trauma on the brain's structural and functional networks, especially in children. This is a project spearheaded by one of my collaborators (and previous DPhil students), Consultant neurosurgeon Tim Lawrence.
Biography
I am a Research Fellow / Principal Investigator at the FMRIB Centre (now part of the new Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging).
I studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford (1999-2002) before completing a D.Phil at the FMRIB Centre (2002-2005) under the supervision of Prof. Paul Matthews focused on Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Following a post-doctoral position with Prof. Tipu Aziz’s Deep Brain Stimulation research group, I spent 3 years as imaging scientist at the GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Imaging Centre (now Imanova), assessing the sensitivity of multi-modal neuroimaging measures as early markers of efficacy for drugs targeting memory impairment among others. In 2009, I moved to the MNI to work in the NeuroImaging of Epilepsy laboratory before returning to the Oxford FMRIB Centre on a MRC Fellowship later that year.
Key publications
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Tracking longitudinal language network reorganisation using functional MRI connectivity fingerprints
Journal article
Voets NL. et al, (2021), NeuroImage: Clinical, 30, 102689 - 102689
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Characterising neural plasticity at the single patient level using connectivity fingerprints.
Journal article
Voets NL. et al, (2019), Neuroimage Clin, 24
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Brain white matter fibre tracts: a review of functional neuro-oncological relevance.
Journal article
Voets NL. et al, (2017), J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 88, 1017 - 1025
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Aberrant functional connectivity in dissociable hippocampal networks is associated with deficits in memory.
Journal article
Voets NL. et al, (2014), J Neurosci, 34, 4920 - 4928
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Resting connectivity predicts task activation in pre-surgical populations.
Journal article
Parker Jones O. et al, (2017), Neuroimage Clin, 13, 378 - 385
Recent publications
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Efficacy and safety of carbon dioxide insufflation for brain protection for patients undergoing planned left-sided open heart valve surgery: protocol for a multicentre, placebo-controlled, blinded, randomised controlled trial (the CO2 Study).
Journal article
Todd R. et al, (2023), BMJ Open, 13
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FUTURE-GB: functional and ultrasound-guided resection of glioblastoma - a two-stage randomised control trial.
Journal article
Plaha P. et al, (2022), BMJ Open, 12
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Functional MRI applications for intra-axial brain tumours: uses and nuances in surgical practise
Journal article
Voets NL. et al, (2022), British Journal of Neurosurgery, 1 - 16
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THE VALUE OF DIFFUSION TRACTOGRAPHY FOR AWAKE SURGERY
Conference paper
Roach J. et al, (2022), NEURO-ONCOLOGY, 24, 6 - 6
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Diffusion tractography for awake craniotomy: accuracy and factors affecting specificity.
Journal article
Voets NL. et al, (2021), J Neurooncol
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A note on decoding elicited and self-generated inner speech
Journal article
Jones OP. and Voets NL., (2021)