Mapping Cerebrovascular Function across Dementia Subtypes

Summary

This project investigates the role of cerebrovascular function in various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's and frontotemporal dementia. Using large neuroimaging datasets and advanced cerebrovascular mapping techniques (see references), we aim to evaluate how vascular dysfunction influences neurodegenerative changes across different dementia types.

Project aims

The study will contribute to understanding underlying mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets.

The project offers an opportunity to develop expertise in multimodal neuroimaging, data science, and advanced analytics (both data drive AI modelling and hypothesis-driven path analysis) and cerebrovascular biology, while making significant contributions to dementia research at the intersection of neuroscience and data science. 

References

Tsvetanov, K. A., Henson, R. N. A., Jones, P. S., Mutsaerts, H., Fuhrmann, D., Tyler, L. K., & Rowe, J. B. (2021). The effects of age on resting-state BOLD signal variability is explained by cardiovascular and cerebrovascular factors. Psychophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13714  

Tsvetanov, K. A., Henson, R. N. A., & Rowe, J. B. (2020). Separating vascular and neuronal effects of age on fMRI BOLD signals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0631 

Tsvetanov, K. A., Henson, R. N. A., Tyler, L. K., Davis, S. W., Shafto, M. A., Taylor, J. R., Williams, N., & Rowe, J. B. (2015). The effect of ageing on fMRI: Correction for the confounding effects of vascular reactivity evaluated by joint fMRI and MEG in 335 adults. Human Brain Mapping, 36(6), 2248–2269. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22768 

Wu, S., Tyler, L. K., Henson, R. N. A., Rowe, J. B., Cam-CAN, & Tsvetanov, K. A. (2022). Cerebral blood flow predicts multiple demand network activity and fluid intelligence across the adult lifespan. Neurobiology of Aging. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.NEUROBIOLAGING.2022.09.006  

Kancheva, I., et al (2024) Cerebrovascular reactivity impairment in genetic frontotermporal dementia. medRxiv. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.24.24304799v1  

Contact details

Dr Kamen Tsvetanov (kat35@cam.ac.uk) - Clinical Neurosciences

Opportunities

This opportunity is open to PhD applicants.