Plasticity, recovery & structure-function relationships

Professor Richard Frackowiak

The research of this group has two major themes:

1)Recovery after brain injury – a field that requires knowledge of normal motor system function and interactions with higher cognitive functions such as attention; and 2) Computational neuro-anatomy, especially in relation to defining biomarkers of neurodegenerative and genetic brain disease in humans.

The experimental programme probes plasticity and reorganization of motor systems during recovery using classical MRI techniques as well as novel ones including sequential and group MR tractography and ancillary methods such as repetitive and single-shot transcranial magnetic stimulation. The aim is to generate ideas about new approaches to treatment and to formulate predictions about which patients will recover, thus seeking to assess treatments when introduced into clinical practice. Interest in recovery mechanisms is motivated by the clinical observation of natural recovery and the hypothesis that if recovery mechanisms can be understood there may be scope for their promotion by specific therapies. The recent demonstration of rapid plastic focal morphological changes with environmental manipulation has given a major impetus to this area. The particular model used is that of ischaemic stroke. Other models such cochlear implantation with rehabilitation in post lingually deaf patients and focal repetitive TMS conditioning are also being studied.

The group is using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and developing new methods of image normalization to examine group structural brain characteristics. Novel classification techniques are being developed to complement the group results derived from VBM. These are being examined to assess the validity, sensitivity and specificity of such techniques for the characterisation of individual images. One aim is to find and describe endophenotypes based on brain structure enabling preclinical prediction of disease with the dual aim of improving diagnosis and commencing therapy in pre-clinical states. The paradigmatic diseases under study are pre-symptomatic Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

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