MEGIN Masterclass
MEG as a platform for clinical trials. From understanding dementia to supporting experimental medicine.
Presented by Dr Laura Hughes, Research Associate at the University of Cambridge
Abstract: “Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a promising platform for clinical trials, with the potential to provide reliable and mechanistically informative neurophysiological biomarkers of disease. In a series of placebo-controlled randomised studies we link MEG markers of dementia with clinical symptoms and aim to restore deficits in neurotransmission with pharmacological manipulation. Resting state and task-based MEG are enhanced by targeted pharmaco-magnetoencephalography including: Tiagabine and Zolpidem (GABA), Memantine (NMDA glutamate), and Citalopram (serotonergic reuptake inhibition). We supplement MEG analyses by structural MRI, PET, and Spectroscopy, and use cognitive and clinical assessments to stratify those who are more sensitive to the effects of drug. We show localised effects of the evoked responses and spectral power that correlate with symptoms of dementia and are modified in response to drug. Reliable and sensitive models of cortical microcircuit connectivity reveal disease specific changes and the mechanisms underlying the differential responses to drug. This body of work provides evidence for pharmacological MEG protocols that can identify specific pharmacological targets for restoration that are directly relevant to the neurophysiology and symptomology of disease. These results open the way for future research to determine drug efficacy, and to develop a range of symptomatic treatments to benefit people with dementia.”
Bio: Dr Laura Hughes, PhD.
“I am a research associate in the Rowe Lab, within the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, and Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. My research focuses on understanding behavioural control within the context of neurodegenerative diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
The aim of our research is to characterise and link neurophysiological and behavioural changes in dementia, and to identify potential biomarkers for disease that could index individual progression and response to therapeutic treatment.
We use task-based and resting state neuroimaging to identify the critical neural networks affected by disease. Using placebo-controlled drug studies we measure how neurotransmission underpins cognitive function and brain connectivity. We use pharmacological challenges of GABA, Glutamate and Serotonin combined with MR Spectroscopy, and PET, in health and dementia.”
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