Rebeccah Slater

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Rebeccah Slater
NationalityBritish
Alma mater Imperial College London (BSc), University College London (MSc, PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsPaediatric Neuroscience, Paediatric Pain
Institutions University of Oxford
Thesis Cortical Pain Processing in the Infant Brain  (2007)
Doctoral advisor Maria Fitzgerald
Website www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk/team/rebeccah-slater

Rebeccah Slater is a British neuroscientist and academic. She is professor of paediatric neuroscience and a senior Wellcome Trust research fellow at the University of Oxford. [1] She is also a professorial fellow in Neuroscience at St John's College. [2]

Contents

Her research focuses on infant pain, using non-invasive neuroimaging techniques to improve understanding and measurement of pain in preterm (premature) and term infants. In this regard, she has established the Paediatric Neuroimaging Group (c. 2013), which aims ultimately to improve neonatal care through developing quantitative neuroimaging measures of pain in infants and translation to clinical practice. [3]

Career

Slater established the Paediatric Neuroimaging Group at the University of Oxford in 2013 as an Associate Professor of Paediatric Neuroimaging, which she continues to lead. She was awarded a Title of Distinction by Oxford University in 2018 to become a Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience. [4] She is also a Senior Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, was awarded a Statutory Chair in Paediatric Neuroimaging in 2019, and has been a Professorial Fellow at St John's College since 2019. [1] [2]

Research

Slater's work constituted the first evidence for specific cortical pain response in premature infants from 25 weeks old. She measures the blood flow changes in the brain during clinically required blood tests using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and compares it to the blood flow during non-painful tactile stimulation. [5] She was the first to directly measure pain-specific neural activity in infants using electroencephalography (EEG), [6] during clinically required blood tests. This EEG measure was then developed by Slater and her research group into a general EEG template for measuring pain response in infants - a significant step towards using objective neuroimaging tools to evaluate pain experience in infants - which has been used to validate pain relief interventions for infants during clinical procedures. [7] [8] She is an advocate for neuroimaging tools for objective measurement of infant pain, and has demonstrated that brain activity could be more sensitive to pain responses in infants than other common assessment tools. [9] [10]

As well as work directly within her research group, she is a collaborator on the developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP), a large-scale multi-centre project to develop the first developmental map of human brain connectivity between 20–44 weeks of age, that will include and link imaging, clinical, behavioural and genetic information. [11] She has also been on the scientific organising committee for the International Symposium on Paediatric Pain. [12]

She is part of a collaboration to develop wearable magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanners for children, described by Physics World as one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2019. [13]

One research study published in April 2015 involved infants, accompanied by their parents, being gently poked with a rod-like device while being scanned by MRIs to measure and understand infant pain. [14] This research suggested that "not only do babies experience pain but they may be more sensitive to it than adults" stated Slater. [15]

Public engagement and media

Slater is considerably involved in public engagement and media communication. With her research group, she has produced several videos for a public audience to communicate research in infant pain and neuroimaging [16] as well as developing artwork and games in collaboration with artists, [17] and her group is very active at public engagement events and science festivals such as the Cheltenham Science Festival. [18]

She has appeared on radio and podcasts to talk about measurement and understanding of infant pain, including Radio 4 pieces "From agony to analgesia", [19] Case Notes with Dr Mark Porter, [20] as well as the BBC World Service: Health Check, [21] and The Naked Scientists podcast "Do Newborn Babies Feel Pain?" [22] She has also appeared on BBC News, [23] and in articles by the BBC, [24] The Guardian, [15] and Scientific American [25] to communicate advances in measuring and managing infant pain.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetoencephalography</span> Mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by currents in the brain

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a functional neuroimaging technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain, using very sensitive magnetometers. Arrays of SQUIDs are currently the most common magnetometer, while the SERF magnetometer is being investigated for future machines. Applications of MEG include basic research into perceptual and cognitive brain processes, localizing regions affected by pathology before surgical removal, determining the function of various parts of the brain, and neurofeedback. This can be applied in a clinical setting to find locations of abnormalities as well as in an experimental setting to simply measure brain activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Functional neuroimaging</span>

Functional neuroimaging is the use of neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions. It is primarily used as a research tool in cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and social neuroscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurofeedback</span> Type of biofeedback

Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback that uses electrical potentials in the brain to reinforce desired brain states through operant conditioning. This process is non-invasive and typically collects brain activity data using electroencephalography (EEG). Several neurofeedback protocols exist, with potential additional benefit from use of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to localize and personalize treatment. Related technologies include functional near-infrared spectroscopy-mediated (fNIRS) neurofeedback, hemoencephalography biofeedback (HEG), and fMRI biofeedback.

Neurotechnology encompasses any method or electronic device which interfaces with the nervous system to monitor or modulate neural activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience</span> Research institution in London, England

The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a leading centre for mental health and neuroscience research, education and training in Europe. It is dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness, neurological conditions, and other conditions that affect the brain. The IoPPN is a faculty of King's College London, England, and was previously known as the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuroimaging</span> Set of techniques to measure and visualize aspects of the nervous system

Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Increasingly it is also being used for quantitative research studies of brain disease and psychiatric illness. Neuroimaging is highly multidisciplinary involving neuroscience, computer science, psychology and statistics, and is not a medical specialty. Neuroimaging is sometimes confused with neuroradiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mu wave</span> Electrical activity in the part of the brain controlling voluntary movement

The sensorimotor mu rhythm, also known as mu wave, comb or wicket rhythms or arciform rhythms, are synchronized patterns of electrical activity involving large numbers of neurons, probably of the pyramidal type, in the part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. These patterns as measured by electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), or electrocorticography (ECoG), repeat at a frequency of 7.5–12.5 Hz, and are most prominent when the body is physically at rest. Unlike the alpha wave, which occurs at a similar frequency over the resting visual cortex at the back of the scalp, the mu rhythm is found over the motor cortex, in a band approximately from ear to ear. People suppress mu rhythms when they perform motor actions or, with practice, when they visualize performing motor actions. This suppression is called desynchronization of the wave because EEG wave forms are caused by large numbers of neurons firing in synchrony. The mu rhythm is even suppressed when one observes another person performing a motor action or an abstract motion with biological characteristics. Researchers such as V. S. Ramachandran and colleagues have suggested that this is a sign that the mirror neuron system is involved in mu rhythm suppression, although others disagree.

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UCL Neuroscience is a research domain that encompasses the breadth of neuroscience research activity across University College London's (UCL) School of Life and Medical Sciences. The domain was established in January 2008, to coordinate neuroscience activity across the many UCL departments and institutes in which neuroscience research takes place. In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the UCL neuroscientist John O'Keefe. In two consecutive years 2017 and 2018, the Brain Prize, the world's most valuable prize for brain research at €1m, was awarded to UCL neuroscientists Peter Dayan, Ray Dolan, John Hardy, and Bart De Strooper.

Integrative neuroscience is the study of neuroscience that works to unify functional organization data to better understand complex structures and behaviors. The relationship between structure and function, and how the regions and functions connect to each other. Different parts of the brain carrying out different tasks, interconnecting to come together allowing complex behavior. Integrative neuroscience works to fill gaps in knowledge that can largely be accomplished with data sharing, to create understanding of systems, currently being applied to simulation neuroscience: Computer Modeling of the brain that integrates functional groups together.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brain activity and meditation</span>

Meditation and its effect on brain activity and the central nervous system became a focus of collaborative research in neuroscience, psychology and neurobiology during the latter half of the 20th century. Research on meditation sought to define and characterize various practices. The effects of meditation on the brain can be broken up into two categories: state changes and trait changes, respectively alterations in brain activities during the act of meditating and changes that are the outcome of long-term practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resting state fMRI</span> Type of functional magnetic resonance imaging

Resting state fMRI is a method of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that is used in brain mapping to evaluate regional interactions that occur in a resting or task-negative state, when an explicit task is not being performed. A number of resting-state brain networks have been identified, one of which is the default mode network. These brain networks are observed through changes in blood flow in the brain which creates what is referred to as a blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal that can be measured using fMRI.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Rebeccah Slater — Department of Paediatrics". www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk.
  2. 1 2 "Professor Rebeccah Slater". St John's College.
  3. ↑ "Paediatric Neuroimaging Group — Paediatric Neuroimaging". neuroimaging.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk.
  4. ↑ "Notices". University of Oxford Gazette. 149 (5215): 14. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  5. ↑ Slater, Rebeccah; Cantarella, Anne; Gallella, Shiromi; Worley, Alan; Boyd, Stewart; Meek, Judith; Fitzgerald, Maria (5 April 2006). "Cortical Pain Responses in Human Infants". Journal of Neuroscience. 26 (14): 3662–3666. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0348-06.2006. PMC   6674141 . PMID   16597720.
  6. ↑ Slater, Rebeccah; Worley, Alan; Fabrizi, Lorenzo; Roberts, Siân; Meek, Judith; Boyd, Stewart; Fitzgerald, Maria (13 December 2010). "Evoked potentials generated by noxious stimulation in the human infant brain". European Journal of Pain. 14 (3): 321–326. doi:10.1016/j.ejpain.2009.05.005. PMID   19481484. S2CID   1731687.
  7. ↑ Hartley, Caroline; Duff, Eugene P.; Green, Gabrielle; Mellado, Gabriela Schmidt; Worley, Alan; Rogers, Richard; Slater, Rebeccah (3 May 2017). "Nociceptive brain activity as a measure of analgesic efficacy in infants". Science Translational Medicine. 9 (388): eaah6122. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6122. PMC   5884430 . PMID   28469039.
  8. ↑ Gursul, Deniz; Goksan, Sezgi; Hartley, Caroline; Mellado, Gabriela Schmidt; Moultrie, Fiona; Hoskin, Amy; Adams, Eleri; Hathway, Gareth; Walker, Susannah; McGlone, Francis; Slater, Rebeccah (December 2018). "Stroking modulates noxious-evoked brain activity in human infants". Current Biology. 28 (24): R1380–R1381. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.11.014. PMC   6303187 . PMID   30562526.
  9. ↑ Slater, Rebeccah; Cantarella, Anne; Franck, Linda; Meek, Judith; Fitzgerald, Maria (24 June 2008). "How Well Do Clinical Pain Assessment Tools Reflect Pain in Infants?". PLOS Medicine. 5 (6): e129. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050129 . PMC   2504041 . PMID   18578562.
  10. ↑ Slater, Rebeccah; Cornelissen, Laura; Fabrizi, Lorenzo; Patten, Debbie; Yoxen, Jan; Worley, Alan; Boyd, Stewart; Meek, Judith; Fitzgerald, Maria (October 2010). "Oral sucrose as an analgesic drug for procedural pain in newborn infants: a randomised controlled trial". The Lancet. 376 (9748): 1225–1232. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61303-7. PMC   2958259 . PMID   20817247.
  11. ↑ "Teams and Collaborators | The Developing Human Connectome Project". www.developingconnectome.org.
  12. ↑ "Scientific Committee". www.ispp2019.org. 22 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Physics World announces its Breakthrough of the Year finalists for 2019". Physics World. 4 December 2019.
  14. ↑ Goksan, Sezgi; Hartley, Caroline; Emery, Faith; Cockrill, Naomi; Poorun, Ravi; Moultrie, Fiona; Rogers, Richard; Campbell, Jon; Sanders, Michael; Adams, Eleri; Clare, Stuart; Jenkinson, Mark; Tracey, Irene; Slater, Rebeccah (21 April 2015). "fMRI reveals neural activity overlap between adult and infant pain". eLife. 4: e06356. doi: 10.7554/eLife.06356 . PMC   4402596 . PMID   25895592.
  15. 1 2 "Babies feel pain 'like adults', MRI scan study suggests". the Guardian. Reuters. 21 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "Videos — Paediatric Neuroimaging". neuroimaging.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk.
  17. ↑ "Things We've Made — Paediatric Neuroimaging". neuroimaging.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk.
  18. ↑ "Public Engagement with Research — Paediatric Neuroimaging". neuroimaging.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk.
  19. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - From Agony to Analgesia, Seeing Pain". BBC.
  20. ↑ "Case Notes". Radio 4. BBC. 29 July 2008.
  21. ↑ "BBC World Service - Health Check, 21/06/2010". BBC.
  22. ↑ "Do Newborn Babies Feel Pain?". www.thenakedscientists.com. 18 May 2015.
  23. ↑ "Rebeccah Slater talks to the BBC about infant pain — Department of Paediatrics". University of Oxford, Department of Paediatrics.
  24. ↑ "Stroking babies 'provides pain relief'". BBC News. 18 December 2018.
  25. ↑ Costandi, Moheb. "Is the Baby in Pain? Brain Scans Can Tell". Scientific American.
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