Quantitative Neuroimaging
Turning scans into numbers that change decisions.
A brain scan holds far more than the eye can see. We measure it, precisely and reproducibly, to track how the brain changes over time, to guide surgery, and to understand disease. The aim is always the same, actionable data that informs real clinical choices.
Three ways we turn imaging into insight.
Measuring brain health over time
Repeat scans, taken months or years apart, let us measure not just what the brain looks like but how fast it is changing. That turns imaging into a clock, and it is the foundation of our work on whether seizures damage the brain. We use automated, whole-brain morphometry with careful quality control to detect change too subtle for the eye.
Translational potential. It identifies who is losing brain fastest, when to intervene, and whether treatment protects the brain, the basis for monitoring and future neuroprotection trials.
Guiding epilepsy surgery
Quantitative imaging turns a scan into a concrete plan for the operating theatre, both where to cut for the best chance of seizure freedom, and how far to go without harming memory. By quantifying resections on postoperative MRI and linking them to outcomes, we convert surgical experience into measurable, reproducible targets.
Translational potential. It gives surgeons image-based targets and limits, a precision approach that maximises seizure control while protecting cognition.
Understanding temporal lobe epilepsy
Fine-grained shape and volume analysis reveals what temporal lobe epilepsy actually does to the brain, and it is more nuanced than simple shrinkage. Surface-shape and subregional methods pick up changes that whole-structure volumes miss, and comparing patients with their relatives separates disease from predisposition.
Translational potential. It improves presurgical counselling about memory risk, offers a handle on compensation that might be harnessed, and helps separate genetic from acquired change.
Two imaging studies, open to collaborators.
The longitudinal imaging behind this work runs on shared data. We lead two multicentre efforts, and both welcome new sites.
IMPOSE
We lead this studyIMPOSE pools serial MRI and fluid biomarkers from people who had status epilepticus, to find who is vulnerable to brain injury, by how much, where, and what protects them. We are inviting centres to contribute their cases.
ENIGMA-Longitudinal
We lead this analysis within ENIGMA-EpilepsyWe are assembling the largest multicentre longitudinal MRI cohort in epilepsy, to map how the brain changes over time and to test the impact of treatment. We welcome cohorts with repeated MRI in people with epilepsy to take part.
Our work on this topic, in the literature.
Brain hypertrophy in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy
Showed that the brain also enlarges in places, evidence of compensation rather than only loss.
Longitudinal hippocampal morphology around surgery
Tracked how hippocampal shape changes before and after temporal lobe surgery.
Optimal surgical extent for memory and seizure outcome
Mapped how far to resect to balance seizure freedom against memory, guiding the surgeon.
Hippocampal shape and memory deficits in TLE
Localised verbal and visual memory to specific parts of the hippocampus using surface-shape analysis.
Resective surgery prevents progressive cortical thinning
Serial imaging showed that successful surgery halts the ongoing atrophy of temporal lobe epilepsy.
Shared hippocampal abnormalities in TLE patients and their siblings
Unaffected siblings showed related changes, pointing to a genetic contribution to the imaging signature.
Piriform cortex resection and surgical outcomes
Identified the piriform cortex as an image-based target whose resection predicts seizure freedom.
Progressive cortical thinning in focal epilepsy
The foundational study, brain atrophy in epilepsy runs at roughly twice the rate of normal ageing.