Research groups
Colleges
Rogier Mars
BBSRC David Phillips Fellow
- Principal Investigator
I explore what it is that makes brains the way they are. Primates, and especially humans, have exceptionally large brains for their body size. Between primates, brains differ in size and in their internal organization. Why is this? I believe that each brain is an adaptation to the particular environment its owner lives in. I try to understand differences between brains as the result of deviations from ancestral brains that arose to deal with challenges in the environment.
To study these question my group and I use two complementary approaches. First, we study how the human brain is organised and works using a range of non-invasive brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Second, we use magnetic resonance imaging to compare the organizion of different brains. We scan the brains from deceased animals to study the size, location, and connections of different brain regions and compare these between species.
Recent publications
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Whole-brain comparison of rodent and human brains using spatial transcriptomics.
Journal article
Beauchamp A. et al, (2022), Elife, 11
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Concurrent mapping of brain ontogeny and phylogeny within a common space: Standardized tractography and applications.
Journal article
Warrington S. et al, (2022), Sci Adv, 8
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Characterization of structural and functional network organization after focal prefrontal lesions in humans in proof of principle study.
Journal article
Noonan MP. et al, (2022), Brain Struct Funct
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Dissociating the functional roles of arcuate fasciculus subtracts in speech production.
Journal article
Janssen N. et al, (2022), Cereb Cortex
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The Digital Brain Bank, an open access platform for post-mortem imaging datasets.
Journal article
Tendler BC. et al, (2022), Elife, 11