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If mental health fails in older age, a large number of factors may be responsible: we aim to isolate these using a variety of large and small-scale studies that use all possible methods of enquiry, from clinical interviews and medical examination to neuropsychology and brain imaging.
This outstanding proposal aims to integrate state-of-the-art brain measures .. on the newest generation of clinical use MR scanners .. with data from a very important, well published longitudinal epidemiologic study.Anon. (MRC Referee)
We have teamed up with the Whitehall Study at UCL and the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB) to examine 800 of their volunteers, who have been followed up 2-yearly for the last 25 years (see quote).
We are also part of the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre and the Alzheimer’s Research UK local network with close links to OPTIMA and Thames Valley DeNDRoN.
Under the leadership of Clare Mackay and Klaus Ebmeier, our focus of interest is on the interaction of genetic, environmental, social and psychological factors that confer risk and resilience on people as they age. We are also interested in enhancing brain plasticity and resilience by means of exercise, transcranial stimulation and pharmacology.
Our imaging, cognitive and psychiatric research aims to investigate emerging evidence of the brain architecture that enables individuals to compensate cognitively and emotionally, particularly with advancing age.
