Neonatology

Lead: Dr Nicola Robertson

Overview

The Neonatology research theme encompasses clinicians, physicists and scientists working on pre-clinical and clinical studies related to perinatal brain injury and neuroprotection. The group has considerable expertise in the application of magnetic resonance (MR) techniques to the developing brain and defining robust MR biomarkers to speed up clinical translation of neuroprotective agents. Research extends to low resource settings in sub Saharan Africa, such as Uganda, and the Indian sub-continent.  The group has an international reputation for outcome studies in perinatal medicine, including large cohort studies and focused neuropsychological studies and wide collaboration in multicentre randomized trials.

Against the background of a longstanding culture of research and enquiry in to the mechanisms leading to and treatment of perinatal brain injury which spans >30 years at UCL, the neonatal clinical service fosters an ethos of collaboration and facilitation for research, supporting multicentre trials and facilitating research with external groups.

Key strengths

• A unique pre-clinical model of perinatal asphyxia, which uses relevant surrogate MR biomarkers and immunohistochemistry to assess adjunct therapies for therapeutic hypothermia
• Close integration of basic science, pre-clinical, clinical, public health and epidemiological expertise in perinatal brain research
• State-of the art MR facilities (clinical 3T) and a pre-clinical experimental MR system at ION (9.4T)
• Close collaboration with medical physics and computer image analysts
• Global health perspective in perinatal neuroscience with studies on-going in Uganda and India
• Follow-up programs of preterm and term high risk infants and strong links with cognitive neuroscience

Research Areas

1. EEG and neonatal Seizures (J Rennie)
2. Global Perinatal Health (N Robertson)
3. Neonatal Neuroimaging  (N Robertson, N Marlow)
4. Neonatal Neuroscience (N Robertson)
5. Neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive outcomes (N Marlow and A Huertas-Ceballos)
6. Pain studies (M Fitzgerald and J Meek)
7. Perinatal Clinical Trials (N Marlow, N Robertson, J Rennie)