We are pleased to welcome Anders Christian Meidahl to the Unit. Anders has joined Professor Peter Brown’s Group as a D.Phil. student, and will study Parkinson’s disease and its treatment.
Anders graduated with a first-class degree in Medicine from Aarhus University, Denmark, and has since worked as a doctor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the National Hospital, University of Copenhagen. While pursuing his medical degree, Anders studied for a year at Stanford University School of Medicine, USA, under the supervision of Professor David Yeoman, where he used herpes-based gene therapy vectors to manipulate nociceptive neuron excitability after traumatic brain injury. This work won Anders the First Prize at the Danish Neurosurgical Society’s annual Research Competition. During his medical studies, Anders also received a scholarship to study the neuronal connections of the nucleus accumbens using MRI-guided retrograde tracing injections at the Center for Experimental Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, and carried out a pilot Deep Brain Stimulation study to evaluate changes in neuroplasticity in areas connected to this nucleus.
We are pleased to welcome Maaike van Swieten to the Unit as an MRC-funded D.Phil. student in Professor Peter Magill’s Group.
As part of Maaike’s M.Sc. in Neuroscience & Cognition, she completed a research internship at the University of North Carolina, USA, where she used optogenetic manipulations, neuroanatomical tracing techniques and behavioural assays to elucidate the role of lateral hypothalamic neurons in reward processing and feeding. During Maaike’s D.Phil. thesis work in the Unit, she will use similar techniques, together with electrophysiological recordings in vivo, to define the mechanisms by which basal ganglia cells and circuits support purposeful behaviours.
We are pleased to welcome Max Rothwell to the Unit. Max has joined Dr Andrew Sharott’s Group as an MRC-funded D.Phil. student, and will study closed-loop deep brain stimulation approaches for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Max has just successfully completed an M.Sci. in Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham, where his integrated research project, carried out in collaboration with Lilly UK, was focused on electrophysiological investigations of brain function.
We are delighted to welcome Naomi Berry back to the Unit as a MRC-funded D.Phil. student in the Sharott Group.
After graduating from University College London in 2013 with a B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences, Naomi worked in London and then in the Unit as a Research Technician, providing support for a variety of neuroscience projects. Naomi’s thesis research will be supervised by Dr Andrew Sharott, and will use a combination of electrophysiological and anatomical techniques to define the roles played by different types of motor cortical neuron in the generation of pathological oscillations in Parkinson’s disease.
We are pleased to welcome Benoit Duchet to the Unit. Benoit has joined Dr Rafal Bogacz’s Group as an MRC-funded D.Phil. student, and will study the basal ganglia and Parkinson’s disease.
Benoit has an “engineering diploma” from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, France, and an M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London. He has been working in medical imaging R&D in Paris for the past few years.
We are delighted to welcome Luke Bryden back to the Unit as a Wellcome Trust-funded D.Phil. student in the Magill Group.
As part of Luke’s recent M.Sc. in Neuroscience studies at the University of Oxford, he completed a highly successful research project in the Unit under the supervision of Dr Emilie Syed and Professor Peter Magill. Luke’s new thesis research will be co-supervised by Dr Paul Dodson and Professor Magill, and will use an advanced combination of electrophysiology, anatomy, and optogenetics to define the roles played by midbrain dopaminergic neurons in behaviour.
Unit scientists Dr Natalie Doig and Professor Peter Magill are featured in a new podcast, entitled “Going Viral”, launched today by the University of Oxford’s Medical Sciences Division.
The topic of the podcast is viruses - fighting them as well as harnessing them for use in science and medicine. Natalie and Peter discuss how they use modified viruses in their research to map out the connections of specific types of brain cell in health and disease.
The podcast was presented and produced by Dr Carinne Piekema at the University of Oxford, and can be downloaded here.
We are pleased to welcome Dr Eric Tam to the Unit. Dr Tam joins Dr David Dupret’s Group as a visiting scientist to progress research on a BBSRC-funded grant awarded in collaboration with Professor David Bannerman (Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford) and Dr Stephen McHugh.
Eric received his Ph.D. in 2011 from the University of Nottingham, where he investigated the role of the hippocampus in appetitive conditioning and interval timing. After his Ph.D., Eric moved to the University of Oxford to work on the role of retinal photoreceptors in modulating recognition memory performance. During his time in the Unit, Eric will examine the role of dentate granule cells in hippocampal network activity in vivo.
We are pleased to welcome Leon Amadeus Steiner to the Unit. Leon joins Professor Peter Brown’s Group as a Visiting Research Fellow to progress work on a long-standing collaboration between Professor Brown in the Unit and Professor Andrea Kühn at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. Leon began his research career as a medical student in 2013 in the Institute of Neurophysiology at the Charité, where he performed patch-clamp recordings from basal ganglia neurons in acutely-isolated brain slices. More recently, Leon has been working as part of the interdisciplinary research group “KFO 247: deep brain stimulation - mechanisms of action, cortex-basal ganglia physiology, therapy optimization” directed by Professor Kühn. In this role, Leon has begun to analyse human brain signals recorded using a chronically-implanted device. His long-term research interest is in chronic adaptive ‘deep brain stimulation’ (aDBS) as a therapy for movement disorders. During his time in the Unit, Leon will analyse movement-related changes in neuronal activity (local field potentials) recorded in and around the subthalamic nucleus of patients.
Over the first two weeks of August, the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit hosted 5 school pupils enrolled on an innovative work-experience placement scheme that was organised in partnership with the charity in2scienceUK.
The placement scheme hosted at the Unit was a first for Oxford, and was tailored for pupils from local state-funded schools to support their progress into university degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
During their time in the Unit, the pupils worked alongside Unit scientists and received personalised mentoring to gain a wide variety of practical experiences and learn more about key concepts and challenges in neuroscience and medical research. In a series of integrated workshops with in2scienceUK, the pupils also received guidance on university applications, wider information about STEM careers, and training in transferable skills. The pupils recorded their experiences and progress in blogs and images.
Unit Deputy Director Professor Peter Magill commented “We are delighted with the many successes of this inaugural scheme. Working with our partners at in2scienceUK, we have delivered a range of experiences that set an exciting precedent for high-impact engagement. Over the fortnight of activities, it was inspiring to see the enthusiasm and enjoyment of the pupils, their mentors, and the Unit as a whole.”
Unit Director Professor Peter Brown commented “Engaging local school pupils continues to be a priority for our thriving Outreach Programme, and it has been a real pleasure and privilege for the Unit to take this lead on widening access and participation in STEM.”
