Study level

  • PhD
  • Master of Philosophy

Faculty/School

Faculty of Health

School of Clinical Sciences

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

Supervisors

Professor Katie McMahon
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health
Professor Greig de Zubicaray
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health

External supervisors

  • Dr Sonia Brownsett, UQ
  • Dr Lisa Gillinder, PAH

Overview

Epilepsy is a serious and debilitating condition which is grossly under-researched despite the devastating impact it can have. Damage to the vast language processing network of the brain during surgical resection can cause aphasia, a devastating communication disability. This project aims to determine reliable pre-surgical mapping and outcome predictors in epilepsy resection: To 1) develop a reliable and comprehensive battery to map the language network in pre-surgical epilepsy patients with different foci, and 2) assess how the reorganisation of the brain post-surgery is related to their outcomes, through the final resection size and location, structural disconnection, brain connectivity and functional task response.

Research activities

Data collection will include a range of advancing imaging techniques, paired with cognitive tests and language batteries.  The student will process the imaging data under the expert guidance of the team. Resting state networks for language will be compared against the task-driven functional batteries to determine its feasibility. Multi-modal imaging factors, such as functional and structural connectivity, will be input to a model to determine risk fact5ors for language impairment post-surgery.

Outcomes

Our results are expected to inform pre-surgical imaging protocols and surgical decision making to optimise patient outcomes.  Minimizing the long-term impact and burden of post-surgical language deficits will have social, economic, and psychological benefits for the patient and their family and will reduce the longer-term burden on the health care system.

Skills and experience

An ideal candidate for this project would have either prior knowledge and/or experience in neuroanatomy, cognitive or language tests, or imaging.

Scholarships

You may be eligible to apply for a research scholarship.

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Keywords

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.