Contact Matt Lambon Ralph (matt.lambon-ralph@manchester.ac.uk) for any informal enquiries
1. The roles of inferior parietal and prefrontal cortices in semantic aphasia.
[http://www.findaphd.com/API/2_5/API_Projects.aspx?PID=48697&col=0059C9]
Supervisors: Matt Lambon Ralph, Gina Humphreys & Paul Hoffman
Application deadline: 6th December, 2013
Interviews: 13/14 January 2014
Project description:
Language impairment (aphasia) is common after stroke (1/3 patients acutely and 1/5 chronically) and interferes significantly with the everyday lives of patients. This project will be focussed on semantic aphasia, an aphasia subtype first described by Henry Head (1926). Our recent studies of these patients (e.g., Jefferies & Lambon Ralph, 2006) found that their multimodal comprehension deficit does not arise from a breakdown in core semantic representations (as found in semantic dementia) but rather from executive control mechanisms that manipulate the very rich semantic database in order to generate time- and context-appropriate behaviour (both in the verbal and nonverbal domains: e.g., Corbett et al., 2009, 2011; Noonan et al., 2010).
This project will be focussed on a crucial functional-neuroanatomical puzzle that arose in the initial studies: semantic aphasia can arise from prefrontal or posterior temporal/inferior parietal lesions, yet the nature of the semantic impairments in each clinical subgroup are very similar. Key outstanding research questions include: (a) what role does each area play in semantic control?; (b) are there important functional subdivisions within inferior parietal and prefrontal regions?; (c) how do the areas and subregions work together as a network in order to generate controlled semantic behaviour? These questions will be answered through a combination of new neuropsychological and structural neuroimaging investigations of patients with anterior (prefrontal) vs. posterior (inferior parietal) semantic aphasia plus a series of yoked studies that use transcranial magnetic stimulation to probe the function of precise frontal or temporoparietal areas (cf. Hoffman et al, 2010).
This project forms part of our 2014 MRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). Due to commence October 2014, the studentship provides full support for tuition fees and a tax-free annual stipend at Research Council rates (currently £13, 726).
2. The relationship between functional and structural connectivity: Insights from neuroanatomically-constrained computational models.
[http://www.findaphd.com/API/2_5/API_Projects.aspx?PID=49052&col=0059C9]
Supervisors: Paul Hoffman & Matt Lambon Ralph
Application deadline: 6th December, 2013
Interviews: 9/10 January 2014
Project description:
Patterns of connectivity in the brain are crucial to cognitive function. Indeed, most fMRI studies reveal a network of regions – which has encouraged cognitive neuroscientists to measure either the physical (white-matter) connectivity between cortical areas or their functional (correlated) connectivity. There is, however, a very complex relationship between structural and functional connectivity (e.g., Uddin, 2013) including functional correlation between two regions without evidence of a direct physical pathway (implying physical connectivity via intermediating region(s)) or the converse, a physical connection that appears not to be used by some tasks.
The key target for this project is to understand how (a) cognitive function arises across a network of interconnected regions; (b) how patient dysfunction reflects changes to this network; and (c) more fundamentally, how functional connectivity arises from structural connectivity. This will be achieved by harnessing the increasing wealth of connectivity (structural and functional) information available in the f/MRI literatures and incorporating it into ‘neurocomputational’ models of cognitive/language function. Recent advances by the NARU group have allowed neuroanatomical constraints to be incorporated into computational models (cf. Ueno et al., 2011). Such models mimic details of cognitive function and dysfunction after damage, but their computational architecture is directly constrained by information about structural connectivity in the brain, and will allow us to explore, in formal terms, how different patterns of functional connectivity arise in these systems.
This project forms part of our 2014 BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). Due to commence October 2014, the studentship provides full support for tuition fees and a tax-free annual stipend at Research Council rates (currently £13, 726).
3. Linking grey matter cytoarchitecture to the human connectome – inter- and intra-regional variation in local cytoarchitecture across the population.
[http://www.findaphd.com/API/2_5/API_Projects.aspx?PID=48669&col=0059C9]
Supervisors: Geoff Parker, Laura Parkes & Matt Lambon Ralph
Application deadline: 5th December, 2013
Project description:
The Neuroscience Research Institute invites applications for the following 3-year project under its 2014 PhD studentship scheme. The PhD training begins October 2014, providing full support for UK/EU tuition fees, associated research costs and an annual tax-free stipend at RCUK rates (currently £13, 726). Applications are open to UK/EU nationals only due to the nature of the funding.
It is well known that regional cortical damage leads to well characterised functional deficits, manifest in a range of conditions ranging from stroke to dementia. Precise knowledge of the location of cortical regions and their boundaries is critical in the use of functional neuroimaging techniques to understand such conditions.
Traditional methods for investigating cytoarchitecture and parcellation are typically invasive. Recently, we have shown that it is possible to use diffusion MRI to provide a non-invasive signature of cortical microstructure, reflecting the local layered structure of the cortical ribbon, and that this signature is broadly preserved between individuals. However, to date this method has relied on prior knowledge of approximate cortical region location and has not been sensitive enough to provide prospective parcellation of the cortex.
This project will build on this work by:
- Extending the novel methods to provide a prospective parcellation at the individual brain level by applying computational regularisation and classification methods to maximise inter-regional variance while minimising intra-regional variance.
- Applying these methods to the large and expanding Human Connectome project data set in order to examine similarities and differences in cytoarchitecture between monozygotic and dizygotic twins, non-twin siblings and non-related individuals. This should support understanding of which cortical region morphologies are largely dictated by genetic factors, and which are more influenced by environmental and developmental factors.
The successful candidate will develop a detailed knowledge of regional variations and similarities in cytoarchitecture across the brain, how this varies across the population and impacts our understanding of cortical parellation and its role in network architecture. They will also be trained in advanced computational methods for analysing neuroimaging data, particularly diffusion MRI.
The PhD would open up career possibilities in neuroscience, imaging science or computer science. This could include academic research but also involve employment in the pharmaceutical industry, commercial imaging or software development.
Applicants should hold (or be expected to obtain) a minimum upper-second degree (or equivalent) in a relevant numerate area such as physics, computer science and/or mathematics. A Masters in a similar area and/or previous experience of neuro MRI or computational neuroscience would be beneficial but not essential. Experience of computer programming would be beneficial.
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2014-03-04
