Karla Miller

Karla Miller
Miller in 2016
Born	Karla Loreen Miller [1]
Alma mater	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (BS) Stanford University (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields	Magnetic Resonance Imaging Neuroimaging Diffusion MRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging [2]
Institutions	University of Oxford
Thesis	Novel methods for steady-state neuroimaging  (2004)
Doctoral advisor	John M. Pauly [3]
Website	www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/team/karla-miller

Karla Loreen Miller ^[1] is an American neuroscientist and professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Oxford. ^{[2] [4] [5]} Her research investigates the development of neuroimaging techniques, with a particular focus on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), neuroimaging, diffusion MRI and functional magnetic resonance imaging. ^{[2] [6]} She was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in 2016.

Early life and education

Miller has said that she became interested in the brain as a child. ^[7] Her mother had brain surgery when Miller was only twelve years old, and she became concerned that it might impact her personality. ^[7] Miller was an undergraduate student majoring in computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. ^[8] While in her senior year she won an undergraduate student achievement award for her research in medical imaging. She collaborated with staff at the University of California, San Diego to develop models to understand changes in blood flow and oxygenation during neural activation. ^[8] Alongside the outstanding undergraduate award she was awarded the Spyglass award for academic achievement and a Franz Hohn and J. P. Nash Scholarship. ^[8] She completed her doctoral research at Stanford University, where she was supervised by John M. Pauly and worked on steady-state neuroimaging. ^[3] In particular, she looked to advance neuroscience through techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion weighted imaging. She developed steady-state free precession imaging methods to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution of functional and diffusion imaging. In addition, she created navigator echoes that could improve the signal-to-noise ratio and reduce artefacts. ^[3]

Research and career

Miller joined the University of Oxford as a postdoctoral fellow in 2004. She was awarded a research fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in 2006. ^[9] In 2007 Miller was appointed a research lecturer at the University of Oxford and subsequently promoted to Professor of Biomedical Engineering in 2014.

Miller's research investigates new imaging techniques for collecting and analysing MRI images. In particular, she is interested in developing techniques for understanding neural microstructure, which she achieves using a combination of MRI with light and electron microscopy. ^[10] Miller developed the UK Biobank brain imaging protocols, which could help to identify new biomarkers of disease and support diagnosis and development of therapeutics. ^[11] By 2025 UK Biobank aims to scan 100,000 participants. ^[7]

Alongside her research, Miller is interested in improving the organizational culture in research. ^[12] She leads equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) work for the medical sciences division at the University of Oxford. ^[13] Initiatives she has led include the promotion of laboratory handbooks that outline the ethos of a good laboratory working environment. ^[14]

Selected publications

• Nonlinear phase correction for navigated diffusion imaging ^[15]
• Multimodal population brain imaging in the UK Biobank prospective epidemiological study ^[11]
• Diffusion imaging of whole, post-mortem human brains on a clinical MRI scanner ^[16]
• A positive-negative mode of population covariation links brain connectivity, demographics and behavior ^[17]

Awards and honors

Miller was made a Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in 2016.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. Karla Miller on Twitter
2. Karla Miller publications indexed by Google Scholar
3. Miller, Karla (2004). Novel methods for steady-state neuroimaging (PDF) (PhD thesis). Stanford University. OCLC   83205400. ProQuest   305130970. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-07.
4. Karla Miller publications from Europe PubMed Central
5. Karla Miller on LinkedIn
6. Karla Miller at DBLP Bibliography Server
7. "Karla Miller: Closing the Loop in MR Research". blog.ismrm.org. ISMRM's MR Pulse Blog. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
8. Anon (1998). "1998 Winners: Outstanding Undergraduate Awards". cra.org. Computing Research Association. Archived from the original on 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
9. Miller, Karla (2006). "Karla L Miller: Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Research Fellow, and University Research Lecturer, Clinical Neurology". ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01.
10. www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/team/karla-miller
11. Miller, Karla L.; Alfaro-Almagro, Fidel; Bangerter, Neal K.; Thomas, David L.; Yacoub, Essa; Xu, Junqian; Bartsch, Andreas J.; Jbabdi, Saad; Sotiropoulos, Stamatios N.; Andersson, Jesper L. R.; Griffanti, Ludovica; Douaud, Gwenaëlle; Okell, Thomas W.; Weale, Peter; Dragonu, Iulius (November 2016). "Multimodal population brain imaging in the UK Biobank prospective epidemiological study". Nature Neuroscience. 19 (11): 1523–1536. doi:10.1038/nn.4393. ISSN   1546-1726. PMC   5086094 . PMID   27643430.
12. "Equality and Diversity". win.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
13. "Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) in the medical sciences division". ox.ac.uk.
14. Tendler, Benjamin C; Welland, Maddie; Miller, Karla L; The WIN Handbook Team (2023-07-03). "Why every lab needs a handbook". eLife. 12 e88853. doi: 10.7554/eLife.88853 . ISSN   2050-084X. PMC   10317497 . PMID   37395453.
15. Karla L. Miller; John M Pauly (1 August 2003). "Nonlinear phase correction for navigated diffusion imaging". Magnetic Resonance in Medicine . 50 (2): 343–353. doi:10.1002/MRM.10531. ISSN   0740-3194. PMID   12876711. Wikidata   Q46232566.
16. Karla L Miller; Charlotte J Stagg; Gwenaëlle Douaud; et al. (5 April 2011). "Diffusion imaging of whole, post-mortem human brains on a clinical MRI scanner". NeuroImage . 57 (1): 167–181. doi:10.1016/J.NEUROIMAGE.2011.03.070. ISSN   1053-8119. PMC   3115068 . PMID   21473920. Wikidata   Q41779442.
17. Stephen M Smith; Thomas E. Nichols; Diego Vidaurre; et al. (28 September 2015). "A positive-negative mode of population covariation links brain connectivity, demographics and behavior". Nature Neuroscience . 18 (11): 1565–1567. doi:10.1038/NN.4125. ISSN   1097-6256. PMC   4625579 . PMID   26414616. Wikidata   Q36222968.