For our next talk, in the Phenome@BDI Seminar series, on 31 January, 2:00- – 3:00 pm at the Big Data Institute (BDI), we will be hearing from Dr Anya Topiwala, Dr Rebeccah Slater, Mr Martin Gillies and Angeline Lee.
2:00 pm – 2:10 pm : Dr Anya Topiwala
Introduction
2:10 pm – 2:20 pm: Mr Martin Gillies
‘Neuromodulation neurosurgery for pain: what can we learn about the human physiology of pain from our data?’
Neuromodulation describes the use of electrical stimulation to treat a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions. Neuromodulation devices are active implantable devices that allow titration of stimulation doses to treat symptoms and avoid side effects. The procedures that are used to implant neuromodulation devices include deep brain stimulation, spinal cord stimulators and dorsal root ganglion stimulation, all of which are neurosurgical procedures.
The Oxford Functional Neurosurgery unit is a pioneer in this form of treatment and over many years has collected a large amount of data on patients who have pain refractory to best medical/non-medical treatments. What I’d like to explore is if the stimulation parameter data contains information on the physiology of the nervous system? Stimulation consists of amplitude (voltage), pulse width (uS) and frequency (Hz). Neurons have resonant frequency (Hz) and impedance (Ohms). We have corresponding clinical data to report effect on the patients’ experiences. Can our stimulation data be used to probe the physiology of pain including physical changes over time?
2:20 pm – 2:30 pm: Angeline Lee
Sleep and physical activity in chronic pain
Chronic pain, defined as pain that persists or recurs for more than 3 months duration, affects up to 1 in 3 adults in the United Kingdom. The pathophysiology of chronic pain is thought to be multifactorial – it can be caused by biological, psychological, and social factors or a combination, and can lead to wide ranging effects. This talk discusses research exploring the relationship between sleep, physical activity, and chronic pain with UK Biobank questionnaire and accelerometry data. We consider the predictability of chronic pain using objective vs subjective measures, explore differences in sleep and physical activity parameters in individuals with chronic pain vs no pain, and use Mendelian randomisation to understand the directionality of these relationships.
2:30 pm – 2:40 pm: Dr Rebeccah Slater
Measuring pain-related brain activity in newborn infants
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All members of the University are welcome to join, please let reception at BDI know you’re here for the seminar and sign-in. We hope you can join us! We encourage in-person attendance where possible. There is time for discussion over, tea, coffee and pastries after the talks.
Hybrid Option
Please note that these meetings are closed meetings and only open to members of the University of Oxford. Please respect our speakers and do not share the link with anyone outside of the University. The aim of these seminars is to increase interaction between people working in Phenome across the University so we encourage in person attendance wherever possible.
Meeting ID: 313 422 058 258
Passcode: UzEFn8
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