Jennifer Cooke (co-chair): Jennifer Cooke is a research fellow working on the Synaptic Gene Study within AIMS-2-TRIALS at King’s College London. Jennifer’s main areas of interest are identifying neurocognitive markers with MRI linked to behavioural traits, improving the accessibility and accuracy of clinical and research assessment in those with severe intellectual disability, and assessing and improving mental health outcomes in those with severe intellectual disability.
Jonathan O’Muircheartaigh (co-chair): Jonathan O’Muircheartaigh is a Reader in Developmental Neuroimaging at King’s College London with experience in acquiring and analysing MRI data from the fetal to childhood period. His focus is on conditions that can alter neurodevelopment such as epilepsy and prematurity.
Dr Ciara Molloy is a post-doctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. My research focuses on deep phenotyping in rare genetic conditions associated with autism. I use multi-methodological approaches (MRI, EEG, eye-tracking, neurocognitive and neuropsychological measures) to characterise brain and behavioural development, and to better understand the biological and clinical heterogeneity. I also hope to refine clinically informative, reliable, and valid measures to help improve supports and care pathways for people with rare genetic and neurodevelopmental conditions. Link to research group: https://www.tcd.ie/medicine/psychiatry/research/neuropsychiatric-genetics/autism/staff/
Francesca Biondo is a postdoctoral research associate at University College London. She investigates brain development in international cohorts of infants and toddlers, focusing especially on early deprivation on later development. Her work encompasses both conventional MRI (at 3 tesla field strengths) but also new low-field systems from infancy through to early childhood.
Emil Ljungberg is an MRI physicist working at Lund University, Sweden. He holds an MASc in Medical Physics from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and a PhD in Neuroimaging physics from King’s College London, UK. His work focuses on development of MRI pulse sequences and analysis methods for quantitative MRI imaging, and specifically for portable low-field MRI systems. In his current position he coordinates technical development and quality assurance methods in an international consortium dedicated to imaging the developing brain. In 2023 Dr Ljungberg was awarded Junior Fellow of the ISMRM, the largest international society for MRI in medicine, for his scientific achievements and leadership in the field of MRI.