Faculty Member, Psychology
Senior MRI Physicist
College of Health and Behavioural Sciences
About
My research interests involve the study of excitatory neurotransmitter systems and their interaction with brain function in normal and clinical conditions. This has lead to an interest in the development of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) techniques to study brain activity via neurotransmitter changes. More recently I have become interested in the relationship between the excitatory and inhibitory transmitters Glutamate and GABA.
Clinically I am interested in the effects of pain, both chronic and acute on the central nervous system, and will be pursuing MRS research aimed at understanding these effects. I also have a strong interest in using proton MRS to detect changes in glutamate and glutamine levels in the brain in response to injury, and disease and how these changes may interact with behavior.
In collaboration with the MIND research Network in USA I have been funded to investigate the use of MRS to study glutamatergic neurotransmission in pain, and to investigate the role of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in adolescent alcohol abuse.
