Early life adversity, environmental and neurological, can have long lasting consequences for the brain, altering what is considered to be “typical” neurodevelopment. As a group, we focus on how the human brain develops in vivo from fetal life in utero to late adolescence, focusing on the effect of preterm birth and early life seizures on the trajectory of brain development.
To achieve this, we use imaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and electro-encephalogram (EEG) and combine with advanced modelling approaches. Most recently, we have been utilising the ultra-high field 7T MRI scanner at St Thomas’ to image the human brain in vivo at very high resolution, allowing us to see very subtle brain malformations in epilepsy and later match to pathology in those who have surgery.
The lab is highly multi-disciplinary and the team includes neuroscientists, physicists, psychologists, computer scientists and paediatricians. We collaborate directly with clinical teams within King’s Health Partners as well as across the CNDD, aiming to translate findings forward to practical clinical use and back for mechanistic pre-clinical validation.