Bethany holds an MSc in Translational Neuroscience (Imperial College London) and BSc in Neuroscience (Queen Mary University of London). She is experienced in computational neuroscience, connectomics, neuroimaging analysis and tractography, machine learning, and ELISA biomarker discovery. She currently works in medical-legal cases of complex brain injury.
MSc Translational Neuroscience, Imperial College London
Bethany achieved a Distinction in MSc Translational Neuroscience at Imperial College London and achieved the top mark in her cohort. She was the recipient of the Dean's Prize Award for her thesis titled: Diffusion Tensor Imaging for neonates with Mild Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia: A Feasibility Study (Centre for Perinatal Neuroscience, COMET NCT03409770). For more information about her research, or to get in touch, please visit her LinkedIn.
Thesis Abstract: Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) occurs in an estimated 1-8 per 1000 live births and is one of the leading causes of neonatal death and disability worldwide. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) at 33.5°C for 72 hours significantly reduces death and disability in moderate-severe cases of HIE but has not been established for use in mild HIE, nor has an optimal cooling duration been defined. In this feasibility study, Diffusion Tensor Imaging was performed on a subset of neonates from the ongoing Cooling in Mild Encephalopathy Trial (COMET), NCT03409770. Patients were randomised to three groups: normothermia (n=4), 48 hours of TH (n=5) and 72 hours of TH (n=5). DSI studio was used to reconstruct white matter (WM) tracts from three regions of interest: The Posterior Limb of the Internal Capsule (PLIC), the Hippocampus and the Splenium. Diffusion metrics (Fractional Anisotropy, Mean Diffusivity, Axial Diffusivity, Radial Diffusivity) and shape-based metrics (Volume, Curl, Length, Diameter) were compared with One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc tests. Significant differences between TH-treated and normothermic neonates in PLIC curl and mean volume, and hippocampal curl, are indicative of a neuroprotective effect of cooling. No differences in any measures between neonates cooled for 48 or 72 hours suggest a 48-hour TH duration is sufficient. These results correspond with and extend existing literature but are not reflective of the clinical population as a whole. Rather, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using DSI studio to assess the WM integrity of mild HIE neonates treated variably with hypothermia. In doing so, it has highlighted technical challenges such as the need for software-specific tractography parameter optimisation and standardisation for mild HIE neonates. Significant findings in understudied shape metrics such as curl support future connectome analyses to explore a putative network-level substrate of hypoxic-ischemic insult and hypothermic treatment. These findings will inform COMET study design once recruitment is complete.
BSc Neuroscience, Queen Mary University of London
Bethany achieved a 1st Class Honours in BSc Neuroscience at Queen Mary University of London. She completed her thesis, titled: Quantifying Integrin Beta 3 as a Disease Biomarker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, at the Blizard Institute Centre for Neuroscience, Surgery and Trauma. For more information about her research, or to get in touch, please visit her LinkedIn.
Thesis Abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disease of the motor neurons, demonstrates substantial heterogeneity in its clinical presentation and prognoses. As such, definitive diagnosis and prognostication of patients presents a notable challenge due to the lack of an objective, systematic method of diagnosis and patient classification. Thus, the development and validation of a measurable disease biomarker for ALS is imperative. Recent studies have demonstrated significant up-regulation of the immune response to the regulatory protein Integrin Beta 3 (ITGB3) in ALS patients in comparison to health controls. This study aimed to verify this finding, with the objective of validating this response as a biomarker for clinical use. With the use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the total autoantibody response to ITGB3 was measured in healthy controls and both fast and slow progressing ALS patients. For an overall impression of the humoral response to ITGB3, concentrations of both antibodies to ITGB3 and immune complexes were measured. Our results demonstrate no significant difference in autoantibody and immune complexes formation across the three cohorts, suggesting that this response may not be of use as a disease biomarker for ALS, or for the stratification of patients into fast and slow progressing phenotypes. While positive correlations were observed between the magnitude of this response in patient plasma with regards to age and patient ALSFRS-R (ALS Functional Rating Scale Revised) score, it is plausible that this elevation in immune response is due to a factor such as ageing as opposed to disease progression.
