Dr Jessica Steventon
Research Associate
Brain Imaging Group
- steventonjj@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2068 8758
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
Overview
My research focuses on how the brain changes with exercise. It is well established that exercise is beneficial to brain health, yet it is not currently known how much exercise, or what type of exercise is optimally beneficial.
As well as understanding how the healthy brain responds to exercise, my work is also focused on understanding the effect of exercise in disease. For example, I have been looking at the effects of exercise in people with Huntington's Disease. The ultimate goal of my work is to study ways in which we can exploit the therapeutic potential of exercise for improved brain health.
Biography
Education and Qualifications
2010 - 2014 PhD Wellcome Trust Integrative Neuroscience, Cardiff University
2005 – 2009 BSc (Hons) Applied Psychology, Cardiff University
Honours and awards
- Early Career Investigator Travel Bursary, BRAIN (Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Function), 2017
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute Seedcorn Grant, 2017
- British Science Association / Wellcome Trust Media Fellowship, 2016
- ISMRM Summa Cum Laude Merit Award, 2016
- Wellcome Trust ISSF Mobility Award, 2016
- Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute Travel Award, 2015
- Best Scientific presentation. 22nd Postgraduate Symposium of the British Chapter of ISMRM: London, UK, 2014
- European Huntington’s Disease Network Seedcorn funding, 2010
Academic positions
2017-Present Research Associate, School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University
2015-2017 Waterloo Foundation Early Career Research Fellow, NMHRI, Cardiff University
2014-2015 Research Associate, School of Psychology, Cardiff University
Speaking engagements
- Waterloo Foundation Research Conference, Motor Function in Developmental Disorders, 2018
Waterloo Foundation Research Conference, Neurodevelopmental Conditions, 2017
Exercising the brain in health and disease; University of British Columbia MRI Research Centre, Vancouver, 2016
Brain Games 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 at the National Museum Wales, Cardiff
- British Science Association Media Fellow - in 2016 I underwent media training completing a placement whilst being mentored by a journalist at Open Democracy, where I wrote a number of articles, mainly focused on neuroscience and mental health. https://www.opendemocracy.net/author/jessica-j-steventon
Committees and reviewing
Reviewer for [1] Scientific Reports [2] Frontiers in Neuroscience [3] Cerebral Cortex [4] Parkinsonism and Related Disorders [5] Journal of Neuroscience Methods [6] Neuroimage [7] JCI Insight
Publications
2023
- Steventon, J. J. et al. 2023. Menopause age, reproductive span and hormone therapy duration predict the volume of medial temporal lobe brain structures in postmenopausal women. Psychoneuroendocrinology 158, article number: 106393. (10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106393)
- Talbot, J. S. et al. 2023. Cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity are modified by maturational stage and exercise training status during youth. Experimental Physiology 108(12), pp. 1500-1515. (10.1113/ep091279)
2022
- Chiarelli, A. M. et al. 2022. A flow-diffusion model of oxygen transport for quantitative mapping of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) with single gas calibrated fMRI. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 42(7), pp. 1192-1209. (10.1177/0271678X221077332)
2021
- Steventon, J. et al. 2021. Changes in white matter microstructure and MRI-derived cerebral blood flow after one-week of exercise training. Scientific Reports 11, article number: 22061. (10.1038/s41598-021-01630-7)
2020
- Steventon, J. J., Rosser, A. E., Hart, E. and Murphy, K. 2020. Hypertension, antihypertensive use and the delayed onset of Huntington's Disease. Movement Disorders 35(6), pp. 937-946. (10.1002/mds.27976)
- Foster, C., Steventon, J. J., Helme, D., Tomassini, V. and Wise, R. G. 2020. Cerebral metabolic changes during visuomotor adaptation assessed using quantitative fMRI. Frontiers in Physiology 11, article number: 428. (10.3389/fphys.2020.00428)
- Steventon, J., Furby, H., Ralph, J., O'Callaghan, P., Wise, R., Busse, M. and Murphy, K. 2020. Altered cerebrovascular response to acute exercise in patients with Huntington’s Disease. Brain Communications 2(1), article number: fcaa044. (10.1093/braincomms/fcaa044)
- Steventon, J. J., Foster, C., Furby, H., Helme, D., Wise, R. G. and Murphy, K. 2020. Hippocampal blood flow is increased after 20 min of moderate-intensity exercise. Cerebral Cortex 30(2), pp. 525-533. (10.1093/cercor/bhz104)
- Foster, C., Steventon, J., Helme, D., Tomassini, V. and Wise, R. G. 2020. Assessment of the effects of aerobic fitness on cerebrovascular function in young adults using multiple inversion time arterial spin labeling MRI. Frontiers in Physiology 11, article number: 360. (10.3389/fphys.2020.00360)
2019
- Foster, C., Steventon, J., Helme, D., Tomassini, V. and Wise, R. 2019. Assessment of the effects of aerobic fitness on cerebrovascular function in young adults using multiple inversion time arterial spin labelling MRI. [Online]. bioRxiv. (10.1101/539072) Available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/539072
- Germuska, M. et al. 2019. Dual-calibrated fMRI measurement of absolute cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption and effective oxygen diffusivity. NeuroImage 184, pp. 717-728. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.09.035)
2018
- Steventon, J. et al. 2018. Cerebrovascular function in the large arteries is maintained following moderate intensity exercise. Frontiers in Physiology 9(1657) (10.3389/fphys.2018.01657)
- Steventon, J. et al. 2018. Alterations in the metabolic and cardiorespiratory response to exercise in Huntington's Disease. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders 54, pp. 56-61. (10.1016/j.parkreldis.2018.04.014)
2016
- Steventon, J. et al. 2016. Longitudinal in vivo MRI in a Huntington's disease mouse model: global atrophy in the absence of white matter microstructural damage. Scientific Reports 6, article number: 32423. (10.1038/srep32423)
- Steventon, J., Trueman, R. C., Rosser, A. E. and Jones, D. K. 2016. Robust MR-based approaches to quantifying white matter structure and structure/function alterations in Huntington's disease. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 265, pp. 2-12. (10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.08.027)
2015
- Steventon, J., Harrison, D. J., Trueman, R. C., Rosser, A. E., Jones, D. K. and Brooks, S. P. 2015. In Vivo MRI evidence that neuropathology is attenuated by cognitive enrichment in the Yac128 Huntington's Disease mouse model. Journal of Huntington's Disease 4(2), pp. 149-160. (10.3233/JHD-150147)
2014
- Steventon, J. 2014. Characterising the structural brain changes in Huntington’s disease using translational neuroimaging. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2012
- Metzler-Baddeley, C., Jones, D. K., Steventon, J., Westacott, L., Aggleton, J. P. and O'Sullivan, M. 2012. Cingulum microstructure predicts cognitive control in older age and mild cognitive impairment. Journal of Neuroscience 32(49), pp. 17612-17619. (10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3299-12.2012)