My research interests are in evaluating the effects of experimental therapies in preclinical models of psychiatric and neurological disorders, using a combination of MRI and corroborative methods such as behaviour, histology, PET and autoradiography. I also manage the preclinical imaging facility, The BRAIN Centre (Biomarker Research And Imaging for Neuroscience), which aims to facilitate the development and optimisation of translational biomarkers of neurological disorders via a team of dedicated scientists and state-of-the-art equipment that includes a brand new 9.4T Bruker MR scanner.

Please see my Research Staff Profile for more detail.

Find out more about my research:

• Brain Imaging

Key publications:

• Polsek et al., 2020. The innate immune toll-like-receptor-2 modulates the depressogenic and anorexiolytic neuroinflammatory response in obstructive sleep apnoea. Sci Rep.
• Walker et al., 2018. Alterations in brain microstructure in rats that develop abnormal aggression following peripubertal stress. Eur J Neurosci.
• Westphal et al., 2017. Characterization of the resting-state brain network topology in the 6-hydroxydopamine rat model of Parkinson’s disease. PLoS ONE.
• Wood et al., 2016. Whole-brain ex-vivo quantitative MRI of the cuprizone mouse model. PeerJ.

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Key collaborators:

• Professor Federico Turkheimer, King's College London
• Professor Steve Williams, King's College London
• Dr Christine Parker, GlaxoSmithKline
• Professor Per Svenningsson, Karolinska Institute