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Luke Mason

Luke Mason

Lecturer in Biomarker Analysis

Research interests

  • Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Contact details

Biography

Luke is a Lecturer in Biomarker Analysis in the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science at the Institute for Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. 

He joined Kings’s College London in August of 2022, before which he was a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Birkbeck Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development. He received his PhD in Psychology from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Luke has worked on several of the largest research studies on autism in the world, including EU-AIMS, AIMS-2-TRIALS and the BASIS infant siblings study.

His primary interest is in developing biomarkers of typical and atypical development, and using these in the contexts of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, and in global health to study the effects on development of environmental risk factors such as malnutrition (on the BRIGHT, Braintools and STREAM studies).

In the pursuit of precision neuroscience, Luke specialises in diverse, deeply-phenotyped studies with large sample sizes. His primary expertise is with EEG and eye tracking, with specialities in software development for stimulus presentation, data acquisition and analysis.

He is the sole developer of the Task Engine stimulus presentation framework, which has been used in 12 countries to collect >10,000 datasets to date. Luke is the Core Analysis Lead for EEG and eye tracking in the AIMS-2-TRIALS LEAP study.

Research Interests

  • Stratification biomarkers for psychiatric and developmental conditions, and environmental risk factors.
  • EEG indices of basic sensory processing and attention.
  • Eye tracking measures of cognitive speed and social information processing.
  • Longitudinal neurocognitive development from infancy to adulthood.
  • Multimodal measures of brain function (e.g. combined EEG and eye tracking)
  • Software development for reliable, reproducible research in large, multi-site studies

Research Centres and Groups

  • Group: EU-AIMS/AIMS-2-TRIALS
    Projects: LEAP, Eurosibs, Syna-G, Shiftability, Arbaclofen clinical trial, Safe Passage Study

  • Group: BASIS (British Autism Study of Infant Siblings)
    Projects: STAARS (Studying Autism and ADHD Risk in Siblings), Inter-STAARS

  • Group: BONDS Lab, CBCD, Birkbeck
    Projects: Braintools, STREAM

  • Group: BRIGHT (Brain Imaging in Babies)
    Projects: BRIGHT, BRIGHT Kids

  • Group: dHCP (Developing Human Connectome Project)

Expertise and Public Engagement

  • Represented AIMS-2-TRIALS in interactions around biomarker qualification with European Medicines Agency and Federal Drug Administration
  • Subject matter expert to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Healthy Birth, Growth and Development Knowledge Integration project
  • Birkbeck One World Festival (2018): Event to celebrate Birkbeck’s diverse international culture. Demonstrated the BRAINTOOLS battery of experimental tasks for global health research.
  • London Science Museum (2016): Presented a customized, child-friendly battery of eye tracking tasks for members of the public to take part in at the London Science Museum.

    Research

    est-1-in-4-children-young-people-have-problematic-smartphone-usage-hero
    Social media, Smartphone Use and Self-Harm in Young People (3S-YP) study

    The rise in self-harm has been linked to increasing use of social media and internet technology among young people.

    Project status: Ongoing

      Research

      est-1-in-4-children-young-people-have-problematic-smartphone-usage-hero
      Social media, Smartphone Use and Self-Harm in Young People (3S-YP) study

      The rise in self-harm has been linked to increasing use of social media and internet technology among young people.

      Project status: Ongoing