Document Actions
Current Research and Funding
The Neurobiology of Ageing Group works from the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry and the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity at the Warneford Hospital, as well as the Oxford Centres for Functional MRI of the Brain and for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research at the John Radcliffe Hospital. The group investigates the neurobiology and psychiatry of mood disorders and cognitive disorders in late life. We are primarily interested in how genes and life history result in resilience against illness and associated phenotypes, including in vivo imaging patterns. The work uses a wide range of techniques from epidemiological systematic clinical assessments and neuropsychological investigations to structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, blood flow imaging, functional MRI (resting and during specific task), magneto-encephalography and electro-encephalography.
Current research projects include:
-
Brain structure and function in Parkinson's Disease (with Ricarda Menke, Michele Hu, Kevin Talbot, and the members of the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre)
-
Evaluation of dementia specific signatures of resting networks in the brain (with Giovanna Zamboni and Gordon Wilcock)
-
Genetic liability to develop cognitive impairment/Understanding the effect of APOE on the brain
-
Magneto-encephalography (MEG) in Mood Disorders in Old Age (with Kia Nobre, Mark Woolrich and Sven Braeutigam)
-
Neural basis of PTSD (with Corin Bourne and Emily Holmes)
- Whitehall II Study, Phase 11; collaboration with Mika Kivimaki and colleagues, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College, London; MRC G0902037 - 2011+
- Predicting MRI abnormalities with longitudinal data of the Whitehall II Substudy, Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (LLHW) Phase 3; with Archana Singh-Manoux, Clare Mackay, Stephen Smith, John Geddes & Mika Kivimaki; MRC: G1001354 - 2011-16
- Enhancing brain plasticity and increasing resilience against dementia with exercise and cognitive stimulation; Cognitive Health Programme, Oxford Biomedical Research Centre; with Helen Dawes, Jane Fossey, Ken Fox, John Geddes, Emily Holmes, Heidi Johansen-Berg, Clare Mackay, Kia Nobre, Mark Stokes, Mark Woolrich; NIHR: 2012-2017
- Research into Ageing and Dementia, The HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust; 2012-2022.
Most of these projects are carried out in collaboration with colleagues in this and other departments in Oxford, or with colleagues in the Whitehall II Study. Our research is and has been funded by the Medical Research Council, Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (LLHWB), the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the European Commission (Framework 6), National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), the Gordon Edward Small's Charitable Trust (Scottish Charity Number SC008962), the Norman Collisson Foundation (Registered Number 263852) and Alzheimer's Research UK (Registered Number 1077089).
