This research investigates how loneliness affects brain function across adulthood. Using brain imaging, it identifies age-related differences in activity within the caudate, a region involved in social reward processing. The findings suggest loneliness alters how people perceive social interactions, supporting the development of personalized, age-appropriate interventions to reduce chronic loneliness.

This research explores how early-life stress alters the gut microbiome and its communication with the brain, challenging the traditional "leaky gut" theory of anxiety. Using a comprehensive, lifespan-wide approach, it identifies a potential new mechanism that could enable more personalized treatments for patients who do not respond to current anxiety therapies.

This research investigates how declining ovarian health influences brain aging and dementia risk. Using genetically engineered mouse models, it identifies inflammation and metabolic stress in the hippocampus associated with low egg quality, suggesting that treatments targeting menopause, hormonal imbalance, or insulin resistance could help protect cognitive health and prevent dementia.

This research demonstrates that moving visual stimuli can improve time perception to match the accuracy of auditory cues. Using a novel bouncing-ball experiment, it challenges the belief that hearing is always superior for judging time and offers new insights for assistive technologies, sports performance, human coordination, and cognitive psychology.

This research develops an affordable, scalable platform for recording electrical activity from brain organoids. Using innovative basket-shaped sensors made from a low-cost conductive material, the system enables simultaneous recording from dozens of mini-brains, accelerating drug discovery and improving our understanding of brain diseases with more human-relevant laboratory models.

This research investigates how the brain makes decisions under uncertainty by studying mice navigating reward-based mazes. Rather than relying on memorisation, mice continually update mental models through active exploration. These findings improve our understanding of anxiety disorders and may inspire more adaptive artificial intelligence systems.

This research challenges the long-standing assumption that brain regions causing no errors during awake brain surgery are functionally unimportant. By measuring subtle delays in speech rather than errors alone, it introduces causal parametric mapping, offering surgeons a more sensitive way to preserve language function and improve patient outcomes.

This research has developed a five-minute smartphone memory test that detects subtle cognitive changes associated with early Alzheimer's disease. The tool identified symptom-free individuals with underlying disease and predicted future cognitive decline, outperforming expensive brain scans while offering a simple, accessible, and affordable approach to early diagnosis.

This research developed NanoX, a nanoscale fluorescent sensor that images oxytocin release from individual neurons in real time. By revealing patterns of brain chemistry associated with mental health disorders, the technology could enable earlier diagnosis, improve understanding of neurochemical signaling, and support both preventive and personalized mental healthcare.

 

This research develops advanced optical imaging technology to observe neurons firing in real time throughout the brain. By combining high-speed microscopy with flexible fibre-optic image relays, the system overcomes the challenge of light scattering, enabling clearer recordings of neural activity and deeper insights into brain function.