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Translating neuroimaging, biomarkers and AI into real-world brain health care for patients with cognitive impairment and dementia.
What we do
The Brain Health Translation Group develops and translates AI-enabled neuroimaging and biomarker tools into real-world clinical use, with the aim of improving diagnosis, prognosis, patient stratification and trial readiness for people with cognitive impairment and dementia. The group’s research spans MRI (including ultra-low-field MRI), PET, fluid and blood biomarkers, large neuroimaging cohorts and Alzheimer’s disease mechanisms. The group is within the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the IoPPN at King's College London and at the NIHR HRC in Brain Health with a focus on making advanced brain health technologies clinically useful, scalable and equitable.
Where we are based
Current major projects
Brain Health Clinic
Developing remote biomarker informed clinical pathways for people with cognitive impairment
Portable ultra-low-field MRI
Translating portable MRI into real-world memory services
SLaM Image Bank
A large, real-world psychiatry and dementia brain MRI cohort for decision support
Protein prediction
Using AI with neuroimaging to predict molecular biomarkers of dementia
PI
Ashwin Venkataraman
Dr Ash Venkataraman is a clinician-scientist specialising in brain health, neuroimaging, and biomarker-driven translation in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, working at the interface of academia, healthcare systems, and pharma/biotech.
He is an Honorary Consultant in the pioneering Brain Health Clinic at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He also is the Early Biomarkers Theme Lead at the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health, and leads the Brain Health Translation Group within the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing.
Dr Venkataraman has published in leading journals including Science Translational Medicine, Molecular Psychiatry, and Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, and his work has been featured widely in national and international media. He has extensive experience collaborating with pharma, biotech, and imaging technology companies, contributing to translational programmes that bridge discovery science with clinical deployment.
Prior to his current roles, he was an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at KCL, an Alzheimer’s Society Clinical Research Training Fellow at Imperial College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute. His PhD focused on PET and MRI imaging of the cellular phase of Alzheimer’s disease, for which he received the AD/PD Junior Faculty Award. He previously held an Alzheimer’s Research UK Clinical Fellowship at the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, Imperial College London.
He is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and trained through the NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship and Academic Foundation Programme, having graduated from University College London Medical School.
News
June 2026: New short film about PREDICTOM released - Using Advanced Brain Scans to Predict Cognitive Decline Early On - watch here
Team
PhD
Le Yang
Risk prediction
AFP Doctor
Anusha Prabhu
Hippocampal subfields
CRF Doctor
Puja Kumari
BHC and bloods
MSc
Daniel Kramarczk
WMH and imaging
Medical student
Yue Tang
Translational imaging
Collaborators
Prof Dag Aarsland
Prof Steve Williams
Prof Ed Bullmore
Dr Zunera Khan
Dr Richard Siow
Prof Daniel Stahl
Prof Matthew Kempton
Prof Rob Stewart
Prof Mattia Veronese
Dr Frantisek Vasa
Dr Niall Bourke
Prof Rob Leech
Alumni
Natasha Stevanovich (MSc)
Yini Zhang (MSc)
Sarah Abu Al-Haj (MSc)
Kristel del Carmen Braceras (MSc)
Emily Lowery (MSc)
Mathilde Audry (MSc)
Molly Johnston (BSc)
Jia (Tracy) En Chong (BSc)
Jyoti Mangal (Post-doc)
Publications
Sahin-Lodge Z, Pisani S, Nderitu P, Guu T-W, Aarsland D, Jackson T L, Ffytche D, Venkataraman AV. Using retinal diagnostics as a biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases: protocol for a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2025
Mayers AJ, Roberts A, Venkataraman AV, Booth C, Stewart R. Dementia-related volumetric assessments in neuroradiology reports: a natural language processing-based study. BMJ Open. 2025
Reilly TJ, Butler M, Abdelsamie A, Awatli I, Barai S, Baxter L, Boardman-Pretty T, Phelps R, Waqar A, Jewell A, Blackman G, Oliver D, Venkataraman AV, Kempton MJ, McGuire P. Prevalence of clinically significant radiological abnormalities in people with first episode psychosis. World Psychiatry. October 2025
Belessiotis-Richards C, Livingston G, Venkataraman A et al. A protocol for a cohort study investigating clinical and radiological features of normal pressure hydrocephalus in South London memory services. Wellcome Open Res 2025
Venkataraman AV, Wright P, Jewell A, Webb C, Zhang Y, Patil SK, Cardoso MJ, Cole JH, Kempton MJ, Marshall CR, Mehta MA, Mueller C, Nicholson TR, Pollak TA, Rittman T, Sahin Z, Solana AB, Stahl DR, Váša F, Young AH, Williams S, Stewart R, Aarsland D. SLaM Image Bank – a real-world diverse London cohort linking brain MRI to electronic mental health and dementia records for the development of clinical decision support tools using artificial intelligence. medRxiv. 2025.
Váša F, Bennallick C, Bourke NJ, Padormo F, Baljer L, Briski U, Cawley P, Arichi T, Wood TC, Lythgoe DJ, Dell’Acqua F, Booth TC, Venkataraman AV, Ljungberg E, Deoni SCL, Moran RJ, Leech R, Williams SCR. Ultra-low-field brain MRI morphometry: test-retest reliability and correspondence to high-field MRI. Imaging Neuroscience, 2025
Venkataraman AV, Kandangwa P, Lemmen R, Savla R, Beigi M, Hammond D, Sauer J, Velayudhan L, Ballard C, Brem AK, Kalafatis C, Aarsland D. The SLaM Brain Health Clinic: a remote biomarker enhanced memory clinic for patients with mild cognitive impairment within an NHS mental health trust. BJPsychOpen 2024
Laurell AAS*, Venkataraman AV*, Schmidt T, Montagnese M, Mueller C, Stewart R, Lewis J, Mundell C, Isaacs JD, Krishnan MS, Barber R, Rittman T, Underwood BR. Estimating Demand for Potential Disease modifying Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease in the UK. BJPsych 2024 (*joint first)
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Sahin Z, Pisani S, Nderitu P, Venkataraman AV, Guu T-W, Aarsland D, Jackson T, ffytche D. Using Retinal diagnostics as a Biomarker for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Protocol for a systematic review. medRxiv 2024.05.27.24306765
Venkataraman, A. V., Marshall, C. & Rittman, T. Automated brain image analysis in dementia using artificial intelligence: a roadmap for the development of clinical tools. Available at: osf.io/myuq7. OSF Preprint. 2023
Venkataraman AV, Mansur A, Rizzo G, Bishop C, Lewis Y, Kocagoncu E, Lingford-Hughes A, Huiban M, Passchier J, Rowe JB, Tsukada H, Brooks DJ, Martarello L, Comley RA, Chen L, Schwarz AJ, Hargreaves R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM. Widespread cell stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with early Alzheimer’s Disease, Science Translational Medicine, 2022
Venkataraman AV, Bishop C, Mansur A, Rizzo G, Lewis Y, Kocagoncu E, Lingford-Hughes A, Huiban M, Passchier J, Rowe JB, Tsukada H, Brooks DJ, Martarello L, Comley RA, Chen L, Schwarz AJ, Hargreaves R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM. Imaging synaptic microstructure and synaptic loss in vivo in early Alzheimer’s Disease. medRxiv 2021.11.23.21266746
Venkataraman AV, Bai W, Whittington A, Myers JF, Rabiner EA, Lingford-Hughes A, Matthews PM, for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Boosting the diagnostic power of amyloid-β PET using a data driven spatial model for decision support. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, 2021
Livingston, N.R, Calsolaro, V, Hinz, R, Gentleman, S,. Tyacke RJ, Myers JF, Venkataraman AV, Perneczky R, Gunn R, Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Murphy PM, Wren P, Nutt, D1., Matthews, PM, Edison, P. Relationship between astrocyte reactivity, using novel 11C-BU99008 PET, and glucose metabolism, grey matter volume and amyloid load in cognitively impaired individuals, Molecular Psychiatry, 2022
Venkataraman AV, Mansur A, Rizzo G, Bishop C, Lewis Y, Kocagoncu E, Lingford-Hughes A, Huiban M, Passchier J, Rowe JB, Tsukada H, Brooks DJ, Martarello L, Comley RA, Chen L, Schwarz AJ, Hargreaves R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM. Widespread cell stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in early Alzheimer’s Disease, medRxiv 2021.08.11.21261851
Livingston, N.R, Calsolaro, V, Hinz, R, Gentleman, S,. Tyacke RJ, Myers JF, Venkataraman AV, Perneczky R, Gunn R, Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Murphy PM, Wren P, Nutt, D1., Matthews, PM, Edison, P. Relationship between astrocyte reactivity, using novel 11C-BU99008 PET, and glucose metabolism, grey matter volume and amyloid load in cognitively impaired individuals. medRxiv 2021.08.10.21261690
Venkataraman AV, PET Imaging of the cellular phase of Alzheimer’s Disease. PhD Thesis, Imperial College London, 2021
Calsolaro, V, Matthews, PM, Donat, CK, Livingston, NR, Daniela Femminella, G, Guedes, S, Myers, J, Fan, Z, Tyacke, RJ, Venkataraman, A, Perneczky, R, Gunn, RN, Rabiner, EA, Gentleman, S, Parker, CA, Murphy, P, Wren, P, Hinz, R, Sastre, M, Nutt, DJ & Edison, P 2021, Astrocyte reactivity with late onset cognitive impairment assessed in vivo using 11C-BU99008 PET and its relationship with amyloid load, Molecular Psychiatry, 2021.
P Young, M Estarellas, E Coomans, M Srikrishna, H Beaumont, M Betts, A Maass, AV Venkataraman, R Lissaman, D Jiménez, E McGlinchey, D Berron, A O’Connor, N Fox, J Pereira, W Jagust, SF Carter, R Paterson, M Schöll. Imaging Biomarkers in Neurodegeneration: Current and Future Practices. Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy, 2020
Suzuki H, Venkataraman AV, Bai W, Guitton F, Guo Y, Matthews PM and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Identifying brain regions vulnerable to effects of aging and modifiable risk factors for dementia in a large population study. JAMA Network Open, 2020;2(12)
Venkataraman, A, Turton, S, Lingford-Hughes, A. Drug use and associated neuropsychiatric conditions. Oxford Textbook of Neuropsychiatry, 2020 (Book Chapter)
A Venkataraman, A. Mansur, Y. Lewis, E. Kocagoncu, A. Lingford-Hughes, M. Huiban, J. Passchier, J.B. Rowe, H. Tsukada, D. Brooks, R.N. Gunn, P.M. Matthews, EA. Rabiner, MINDMAPS Consortium. Quantifying mitochondrial and synaptic function in Alzheimer’s Disease using [18F]BCPP-EF, [11C]SA4503 and [11C]UCB-J PET Imaging. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2019, 15(7S) 740-741
AV Venkataraman, A. Mansur, Y. Lewis, E. Kocagoncu, A. Lingford-Hughes, M. Huiban, J. Passchier, J.B. Rowe, H. Tsukada, D. Brooks, R.N. Gunn, P.M. Matthews, EA. Rabiner, MINDMAPS Consortium. Evaluation of mitochondrial and synaptic function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD): a [18F]BCPP-EF, [11C]SA4503 and [11C]UCB-J PET study. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 2019, 39(1S) 121-122
Calsolaro V, Fan Z, Myers JFM, Tyacke RJ, Venkataraman A, Femminella GD, Perneczky R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Gentleman S, Parker CA, Murphy PS, Wren PB, Matthews PM, Nutt DJ, Edison P. Evaluation of Novel Astrocyte 11C-BU99008 PET in Alzheimer’s Disease: a Dementia Platform UK experimental medicine study. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2018, 14(7) 842–843.
Fan Z, Calsolaro V, Mayers J, Tyacke R, Venkataraman A, Femminella G Perneczky R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM, Nutt DJ, Edison P. Relationship between astrocyte activations using 11C-BU99008, glucose metabolism and amyloid in Alzheimer’s Disease: a Dementia Platform UK experimental medicine study. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2018, 14(7) 1640.
Venkataraman AV, Keat N, Turton S, Myers JFM, Tyacke RJ, Mick I, Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Gunn RN, & Nutt DJ. First Evaluation of PET-Based Human Biodistribution and Radiation Dosimetry of 11C-BU99008, a Tracer for Imaging Astrocytes/ Imidazoline2 Binding Site. EJNMMI Research, 2018, 8:171
Tyacke RJ, Myers JFM, Venkataraman A, Turton, S, Mick I, Hill S, Chong H, Mos S, Passchier J, Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Gunn RN, & Nutt DJ. Evaluation of 11C-BU99008, a PET Ligand for the Imidazoline2 Binding Site in Human Brain, Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2018
Venkataraman AV, Perry RJ, Malhotra PA. Young Onset Dementia. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, Elsevier, 2018, 1-7
Venkataraman A, Nutt DJ, A tale of two moralities: politicians, doctors, substance use and lobbying. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 2018
Durant CF, Paterson LM, Turton S, Wilson SJ, Myers JFM, Muthukumaraswamy, Venkataraman A, Mick I, Paterson S, Jones T, Nahar LK, Cordero RE, Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A. Using baclofen to explore GABA-B receptor function in alcohol dependence: insights from pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic measures. Frontiers Psychiatry, 2018
Turton S, Myers J, Mick I, Colasanti A, Venkataraman A, Durant C, Waldman DA, Parkin MC, Dawes G, Rabiner EA, Gunn RN, Lightman SL, Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A Blunted Endogenous Opioid Release Following an Oral Dexamphetamine Challenge in Abstinent Alcohol Dependent Individuals. Molecular Psychiatry, 2018
Venkataraman, A., Kalk N., Sewell, G., Ritchie, CW., Lingford-Hughes, A. Alcohol and Alzheimer’s Disease - does alcohol dependence contribute to beta-amyloid deposition, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease? Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2017, 52(2), 151–158
Lingford-Hughes, A , Turton, S, Venkataraman, A, Alcohol and the Brain, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2017, (Peer-reviewed CPD Module)
Edison, P., Mayers, J., Calsolaro, V., Fan, Z., Turton, S., Venkataraman, A., Femminella, GD., Perneczky, R., Gunn, R.N., Rabiner, E.A., Matthews, P.M., Tyacke, R., Nutt, D. Dementia Platform UK Experimental Medicine: Human in vivo astroglial activation in early Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2017,13(7),1073- 1074
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