Ryan Beckerleg

Overview

Hi, I'm Ryan, a research student in the School of Physics and Astronomy based at Cardiff University's Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC). I studied the three year BSc Physics with Medical Physics course here at Cardiff. My final year research project focussed on using Ultrasonic Imaging to investigate the effects that Graduated Compression Stockings have on lower limb vasculature.

The human brain is made up of a vast network of blood vessels that supply the brain with oxygen and nutrients. As we get older these vessels can stiffen and become less compliant. This can lead to diseases such as stroke, dementia and cerebrovascular disease. My research focusses on developing new methods that can be used to acquire measurements of cerebrovascular health with the aim of detecting disease, specifically dementia, earlier. I use advanced MRI methods to investigate cerebrovascular health using measures of blood flow, blood volume and the rate of oxygen consumption in the brain.

Currently I'm working on two main projects. One of which aims to investigate conventional motion correction methods when using gas challenges during functional MRI (fMRI) and to compare these with correction using an external motion tracking camera. The other aims to investigate fMRI signals related to cardiac pulsatility in large resting state fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project.