In brief: Sensory InPuts lab

2021: I am currently working on a massive overhaul of this website so please bear with me as I change everything around!

My name is Nick (Nicolaas) Puts. I am a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom

I run the "Sensory InPuts" lab (pardon the pun) where study sensory processing in health and disease. We use a combinations of methods, including Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Psychophysics, and other physiological measures, to assess tactile processing in children with and without neurodevelopmental conditions (autism, ADHD, Tourettes syndrome). By combining these techniques we hope to identify the biological underpinnings of difficulties with sensory processing and identify markers of altered sensory processing, to identify whether these sensory differences impact social experiences, and to what extent they differ among those with different neurodevelopmental conditions. Ultimately, the aim is to identify clear biomarkers of altered sensory function with impact on the core symptoms of ASD and ADHD with clear targets for potential diagnosis and intervention.

Measuring touch

Tactile sensitivity is difficult to measure, and has classically been approached via questionnaires and rating scales. While informative, these metrics provide little information as to what happens in the brain during touch. We recently developed a battery of tactile tasks, probing inhibition, allowing for controlled & objective assessment of tactile sensitivity (e.g. the ability to feel very weak stimuli, or the ability to feel differences in the intensity of touch; see here for our first paper on this topic and here for further discussions of how we can measure this).

Measuring GABA

It is possible to measure the concentration of GABA 'in vivo' and non-invasively in the brain using edited Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (see here for a old review I wrote with Richard Edden). For a brief explanation, click here.

My work: Edited MRS of GABA

During my postdoctoral fellowship, and still on occasion, I support the development of the acquisition and analysis of GABA-edited MRS data. Information and support on this topic, as well as a download link of our Gannet software, can be found on our Gannet-website (click here). We provide support to numerous sites world-wide in the application, acquisition, and analysis of edited MRS of GABA. If you are interested, feel free to drop me an email. However, since I moved from Hopkins, Richard Edden is your best contact.

Science communication and professional development

I have a strong interest in communicating science and teaching other scientists how to communicate. I have developed numerous workshops for children, given several public talks to people of all ages and developed workshops on science communication. One of my workshops focuses on 'giving a 10 min conference talk' mostly focused to junior scientists. Other workshops involve 'removing jargon and finding a hook' and 'elevator pitches'. Click here for more (under development). Furthermore, I have a strong interest in supporting junior scientists in their career development, developed a short but useful Individual Development Plan, and was the first appointed Postdoc Program Director in my Department at JHU.

Bio

Originally hailing from the Netherlands, I received my BSc in Biology and MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from Utrecht University in the Netherlands and I spent time doing research at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan and at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Before coming to Baltimore, I did my PhD in the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) in Cardiff, Wales, UK. During my PhD I worked with Dr. David McGonigle and I investigated the role of cortical oscillations and baseline neurochemistry (GABA) in shaping the response to tactile stimulation, focusing on brain changes during adaptation. We adapted existing behavioral methods to be applied with MEG recordings and developed and optimised the acquisition of GABA-MRS for somatosensory cortex.

I then moved to Hopkins where I predominantly worked with by Prof. Richard Edden and Prof. Stewart Mostofsky, and I worked in Prof. Peter Barker's group. Most of my work was performed in the F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. I worked, and continue to work, very closely with Dr. Mark Tommerdahl at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Funding

Prior and current funding came from Autism Speaks, an NIH/NIMH K99/R00, an American Society for NeuroRadiology Research Scholar Award, and the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation.

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