Projects
AIMS-TO-TRIALS and EU-AIMS
Longitudinal European Autism Project - LEAP
LEAP is a multi-site project that involved 700+ participants with and without autism with a wide age range (6-30 years), and included eye-tracking, EEG and other imaging techniques, and clinical assessments. In line with the aim of the study of finding sensitive markers with the potential of differentiation and stratification of individuals, we are currently looking at the eye-tracking and EEG data and applying specific modelling techniques.
ARBACLOFEN TRIAL
Arbaclofen is a multi-site clinical trial that involves 7 clinical centres across Europe (Spain, France and United Kingdom), aiming at testing the effectiveness of the Arbaclofen - an agonist of the receptor of type B of the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) - in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC). GABA contributes to the excitatory/inhibitory balance of brain activity that is possibly altered in ASD. The study includes the recording of EEG pre- and post-treatment as an exploratory objective to directly investigate the effect on brain activity. Our team coordinates the setup, training and data quality assessment of the EEG data.
The study is paralleled by a replication trial in Canada carried out by the POND Network.
SAFE PASSAGE
Safe Passage builds on a previous longitudinal study that involved hundreds of infants to identify environmental risks of serious birth conditions in Cape Town, South Africa.
With an extended sample of 2500+ participants, the new study aims to early markers of Autism Spectrum Conditions with tablet-based behavioural measures and brain activity. For this study, we implemented a EEG setup with a portable machine and eye-tracker, in collaboration with King's College London and Stellenbosch University.
For the first stage of the study that involved ~100 participants, we delivered quality metrics of eye-tracking and EEG to assess the feasibility of EEG and eye-tracking in this setting.
The Studying Autism and ADHD Risks (STAARS)
Since 2008, STAARS specifically researches the early development of baby brothers and sisters of autistic children, with attention deficit disorders and typical development.
In the long term, we hope this will help to improve early detection and diagnosis, improving the quality of life of children and their families.
Funded by a consortium led by Austistica, with support from the Medical Research Council and EU-AIMS.
Babysleep
In this study we use a custom-built NIRS-EEG headgear to study what happens in the brain of sleeping infants. Babies come to our lab to nap while wearing the headgear and then participate in a series of eye-tracking tasks, that tell us more about how they learn. They also complete a week of actigraphy. We then link the brain activation patterns from the nap to information on how the babies usually sleep as well as to the results from the eye-tracking tasks. This project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme.
Braintools
BRAINTOOLS aims to create an acceptable, feasible and reliable portable EEG toolkit for assessing functional brain development with typically developing children in low resource settings.
INDIA
A test-retest reliability study was conducted on 40 children in community settings in Delhi, India. In collaboration with Sangath, qualitative and quantitative methods, including questionnaire and in-depth interviews, were used to establish the feasibility and acceptability of toolkit being used to assess neurodevelopment in children in community settings in Delhi.
UNITED KINGDOM
We conducted a test-retest reliability EEG study that involved ~60 children around 3 years of age in London at the Birkbeck Babylab. Each child visited the Babylab twice 1 week apart from the first visit.
The main aim of this study is to demonstrate a good correlation between two measures of the same individual taken in different occasions, ensuring a good reliability and applicability on a larger scale.
GAMBIA
This project takes place in Keneba, The Gambia, and aims to develop a protocol and toolkit for measuring early markers of childhood mental health appropriate for this setting.
The study will run a test-retest design to asses the reliability and feasibility in this low-income setting.
For more information about the Braintools Study in the Gambia
BONDS
We are exploring new frontiers bringing Neuroadaptive Optimisation to infant research with the Behaviour and Online Neuroimaging to study the Development of Socialisation (BONDS)!
This project, coordinated by Prof. Emily Jones and Dr. Anna Gui, uses non-invasive neuroimaging techniques (EEG and fNIRS) to obtain brain data in real time and inform a machine-learning algorithm on the characteristics of visual and auditory stimuli that elicit stronger activation in the social brain.
We are currently piloting this approach with 6 to 8-month old infants!
Find out more about BONDS here
Transformative Approach with Babies in the Scanner (TABS)
Our transformative approach combines artificial intelligence and real-time neuroimaging to understand what are the characteristics of sounds babies hear in the very first period of their life that activate the brain areas that are important for social interaction.
In collaboration with Prof. Fred Dick and Prof. Robert Leech (KCL), Dr Anna Gui and Emily Jones are setting up the TABS study using the Magnetic Resonance scanner at Birkbeck-UCL Centre for Neuroimaging (BUCNI) to see what areas are activated in the babies’ brain in response to a variety of sounds.
Eye-trackIng assessment for childRen with Autism (EIRA)
EIRA is a project funded by a Sir Henry Wellcome post-doc fellowship awarded to Dr Georgia Lockwood Estrin.
The project focuses on establishing the ability, feasibility and acceptability of using portable eye-tracking technology to identify children at elevated likelihood of Autism Spectrum Conditions in low-income contexts, specifically in India.
As part of this project, a case control pilot study is currently being conducted in Delhi, India in collaboration with Sangath and AIIMS (All India Institute Of Medical Science).
EEG on-the-go
In traditional EEG research, we show all participants a small number of stimuli, and then analyse the data after the session has ended.
Different individuals however might show different brain responses to these stimuli. One stimulus might not elicit the best brain response in each individual.
In this new approach, we are using state-of-the-art techniques to analyse the EEG data in real-time, during the session.
The results of these real-time analyses will help to select the stimulus that leads to the best EEG response during the session.
This research will help create individualised EEG sessions that can be used in different age and demographic groups, and clinical populations.
gBASIS
The British Autism Study of Infant Siblings – Genome, also known as gBASIS, aimed to obtain DNA and RNA samples from all the family members of the children who participated in BASIS as infants, to explore the biological bases of neurodevelopmental trajectories.
Dr. Anna Gui and Prof. Emily Jones are interrogating this valuable dataset to know more about the link between genetics, brain and behaviour.
To know more about their research, carried out in collaboration with Dr. Emma Meaburn and other researchers of the Gene Environment Lifespan laboratory, have a look at the GEL Lab website
Other projects
STREAM
An international project to assess child neurodevelopment in low-resource settings using mobile technology
For more information about the STREAM Project
BRIGHT
Brain Imaging for Global Health
For more information about the BRIGHT Project
EUROSIBS (EU-AIMS)
The European Babysibs Autism Research Network
DEVELOPING HUMAN CONNECTOME PROJECT
For more information about the project
INTER-STAARS
Intervention in STAARS
For more information about INTER-STAARS
PIP
Pre-School Brain Imaging and Behaviour Project