Brain Imaging

In partnership with Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), the Brain Imaging Group (BIG) brings expertise from MR physics to advanced modelling and analysis of neuroimaging data.

Our research focuses on applying physical principles to a diverse set of neuroimaging techniques to make more accurate measurements of biological processes in the brain.

We develop techniques to measure the control of brain blood flow by combining advanced MR imaging sequences with mathematical modelling of physiological processes. Our goal is to track deterioration of brain vascular health during ageing, allowing early intervention in neurological disorders.

A complementary aspect of this research concerns the measurement of the energy consumed by the brain during normal function and how it is changed by interventions and disease.

A large part of our research involves solving forward and inverse problems in neuroimaging; allowing a better characterisation of electrical sources of brain activity and deriving more useful information about small scale properties of brain tissue based on multimodal imaging techniques.

Current research

We are working in the following research areas:

• Measuring the health of the brain’s blood vessels with MRI
• Vascular influences on neurovascular coupling
• Electromagnetic source characterisation
• Depicting tissue microstructure by means of diffusion MRI.

Other research

Another key research area of our group is related to the use of computational physics to achieve a better understanding of physical processes within the brain. The simulation of the physical phenomena giving rise to neuroimaging measurements is a key concept that takes part in both acquisition design and data processing.

CUBRIC

The research of the group is based in CUBRIC a £44m neuroimaging centre, set to become one of Europe’s top facilities for brain imaging.

The new centre brings together world-leading expertise in brain mapping with the very latest technologies in brain imaging and brain stimulation. It plays a pivotal role in the global endeavour to better understand the causes of neurological and psychiatric conditions such as dementia, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis, so as to yield vital clues for the development of more effective treatments.