The Unit held its sixteenth Science Day on Friday 30th June 2023. Unpublished work and future research projects were the focus of discussion, and Unit members and visitors enthusiastically took the chance to offer the constructive criticism needed to support collaboration and cutting-edge research.

There were 8 short research talks and 15 poster presentations, most of which were given by the Unit’s early-career scientists. Attendees were also treated to two Keynote Lectures: A first by Professor Vladyslav Vyazovskiy of the University of Oxford, in which he gave an engaging account of the regulation of brain activity during sleep and waking; and a second lecture by Dr. Erika Ross of Onward Medical that showcased career paths in the neurotechnology industry as well as the development of medical devices for clinical interventions in neurological disorders and spinal injury.

Unit Director Professor Peter Magill commented: “Another fantastic showcase of interdisciplinary research, and a timely opportunity to review our collective progress in fulfilling the Units’ Mission. It was a pleasure and a privilege to see the next generation of our talented researchers in action and to learn from them.”

Warm congratulations to Camille for winning the departmental 3-minute thesis prize!

Camille presented at the annual Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (NDCN) Thomas Willis day's 3-Minute Thesis competition. The 3-Minute Thesis presentation challenges DPhil students to present their research topic and its significance in three minutes. Camille presented her work using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) with the help of some cartoon neurons which were very popular with the audience!

Warm congratulations to Unit student Demi Brizee for winning the Gotch Memorial Prize 2022-2023, which is awarded by the board of management to a graduate student in the field of physiology with the best Oxford DPhil Transfer Status report.   

For her DPhil thesis research, Demi is examining the cooperative firing dynamics of the distinct populations of hippocampal interneurons using in vivo electrophysiological ensemble recordings in freely behaving mice. In this work, Demi combines analyses of the local field potentials and neuronal spike trains with input-defined and cell-type-selective optogenetic manipulations during spatial exploration and memory tasks. This work is intended to characterise the division of labour amongst the various types of hippocampal interneurons for the internal processing of mnemonic information. Demi's D.Phil. research is conducted in close collaboration with Dr Vitor Lopes-dos-Santos, in the Unit research group led by Prof. David Dupret.

We are pleased to welcome Yosra Hashim to the Unit as a visiting student.

Yosra is a medical student at University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland). During her 3-month visit to the BNDU, Yosra will join the Bogacz group and will be co-supervised by Dr Benoit Duchet. She will investigate phase-amplitude coupling in mathematical models constrained by data. Specifically, she will make use of electrophysiological recordings obtained in rodents by the Sharott group.

Warm congratulations to Unit D.Phil. student Camille Lasbareilles for winning this year's Simon, Arpi, Marie & John Simonian Prize for Excellence in Leadership! The prize is awarded to an individual who has shown significant leadership qualities during their time at St Edmund Hall in any area, e.g. sport, charity work, journalism, theatre/drama, music, potential future academic leadership, or other outside interests.

Camille has distinguished herself as an active and enthusiastic member of the college. She organised several public engagement events for the Centre for the Creative Brain at St Edmund Hall with Prof. Stagg and Prof. Dupret, including 'Exploring Epilepsy through Art', 'Drawing the Human Brain' and 'Language Arts - Books, Comics and Language Learning'. She has also been involved in other public engagement activities, such as 'WIN-dow on the Brain', where she explained to the general public how non-invasive brain stimulation techniques work.

In her D.Phil at the Unit, Camille investigates the neurophysiological processes that govern motor control and motor learning in the healthy brain, and how these can be modulated using a type of non-invasive brain stimulation called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS).

Congratulations to Unit Group Leader Dr Helen Barron on being awarded the title of Associate Professor by the University of Oxford.

Associate Professor titles are conferred annually in recognition of an individual’s distinction in their field as well as their wider contributions to research, teaching and administration/citizenship.

Unit Director Professor Peter Magill commented “We are delighted for Helen. This title is richly deserved, reflecting Helen’s remarkable research performance as well as many other academic achievements. Helen’s career is clearly flourishing!

We are pleased to welcome Lauren Zwienenberg to the Unit as a visiting academic.

Lauren is a PhD candidate and psychologist from Maastricht University (Netherlands), whose research focuses on the treatment of TMS for depression. Specifically, she is interested in better understanding the heart-brain connection, which she uses for target engagement with brain stimulation techniques. During her 3-month visit to the Unit, Lauren will join the Stagg lab and conduct a research project looking into the effects of different pulse shapes and pulse widths on TMS induced heart-brain coupling.

We are pleased to welcome Nima Mirkhani to the Unit. Nima has joined the Bogacz Group as a Postdoctoral Researcher to explore the effect of neurostimulation in neurological and psychiatric disorders using computational models.

Nima graduated from the University of Tehran in Mechanical Engineering in 2013 and later obtained his MSc from the same university. During his PhD in health sciences and technology at ETH Zurich, he focused on investigating novel spatially selective drug delivery strategies in cancer using living microrobots.

At the Unit, his research uses computational models to study the effect of brain stimulation in neurological and psychiatric disorders using computational models. Specifically, he is developing mathematical models to optimise the suppression of pathological oscillations in disorders like Parkinson's. Moreover, Nima is also interested in studying altered perceptual inference in psychiatric conditions, especially in the context of autism.

Congratulations to Unit Group Leader Professor Charlie Stagg who has been named as the Physiological Society GL Brown Prize Lecturer for 2024.

The GL Brown Prize Lecture Series is awarded annually by The Physiological Society to recognise outstanding original research contributions in physiology as well as the ability to stimulate wider interest in physiology. The Prize is named in honour of Sir George Lindor Brown FRS who was Waynflete Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford. The Lecture Series will enable Professor Stagg to visit universities around the country and share her work in physiology with early-career researchers.

You can read more about this year's recipients of Prize Lectures on The Physiological Society website.

The Unit held its eighth annual Training & Careers Development Event on Wednesday 19th April. Unit members, together with colleagues from the University of Oxford, were treated to a range of enlightening presentations, each of which was followed by an engaging Q & A session.

Unit Director Professor Peter Magill started the Event by reiterating some key aspects of the Unit’s approach to training and career development. This was followed by an insightful joint presentation by Dr Laura Newell and Dr Benedicte Menn of Oxford University Innovation about ways and means of commercialising research, focusing on the protection of Intellectual Property and the creation of spinout companies. Ginny Matthews of the University’s Assurance Directorate and James Lee of NDCN’s professional services team then gave a joint presentation and some welcome practical advice on navigating the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation and best practice for compliant data sharing. Unit Administrator Vivienne Collins then concluded the general session by giving some well-received guidance on the do’s and don’ts of expenses claims.

In the first of two break-out workshops held after refreshments, Charlotte Houghton of the University’s Environmental Sustainability team led an interactive discussion about the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) scheme at Oxford. Unit postdoctoral researcher Dr Camille Loiseau then related her experiences of implementing LEAF at the Unit. In the second workshop, Dr Joanna Bagniewska of the University’s Department of Paediatrics offered some valuable recommendations on how to use social media to enhance career visibility for research.

Professor Charlotte Stagg, Chair of the Unit’s Training & Career Development Committee, commented “The provision of bespoke training and career support continues to be a priority for the Unit. We are most grateful to our expert speakers, and we look forward to acting on their great advice.”