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Overview

Dr Tom Barrick

Reader in Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Development of magnetic resonance image analysis techniques for disease diagnosis and prognosis
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Overview

Dr Tom Barrick is Reader of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Head of the Neurological Disorders and Imaging Section within the Neuroscience and Cell Biology Research Institute. He has a research focus on development of automated image analysis techniques for identifying neuroimaging biomarkers of disease diagnosis and prognosis. His research includes development of imaging biomarkers based on novel MRI acquisition and analysis techniques that include structural (e.g. volumetric and diffusion MRI) and functional imaging modalities (e.g. functional MRI, perfusion, MR spectroscopy). By using machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques the information from these imaging biomarkers can then be combined to improve diagnosis and assessment of prognostic risk. 

Dr Barrick has a particular interest in development of new acquisition and analysis techniques for tissue microstructural imaging and has recently developed Quasi-Diffusion Imaging (QDI) which is based on the continuous time random walk model of diffusion dynamics. This technique provides a new, robust method for quantification of diffusion and tissue heterogeneity from diffusion MRI data. QDI provides high signal and contrast to noise ratio images from short clinically acceptable acquisition times.

Dr Barrick collaborates in projects across a wide range of diseases including: brain tumours, dementia, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, covid-19, normal ageing. He is also a founding member of the Anomalous Relaxation and Diffusion Study group.

Employment

St. George's, University of London, United Kingdom

1/01/2024 to present       Head of Neurological Disorders and Imaging Section

                                         Neuroscience and Cell Biology Research Institute 

1/10/2020 - 31/12/2023  Reader in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

                                         Neuroscience Research Centre

4/2009 - 30/09/2020       Senior Lecturer in Image Analysis

                                         Neuroscience Research Centre

4/2006 - 3/2009               Lecturer in Image Analysis

                                         Centre for Clinical Neuroscience

8/2001 -  3/2006              Image Analyst Centre for Clinical Neuroscience

University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

1/1999  - 8/2001              Research Assistant

                                         Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre

 

Education and qualifications

University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

1/10/1997 - 1/04/2004   PhD Medical Imaging

1/10/1996 - 31/9/2004   MSc Pure Mathematics (Distinction)

1/10/1993 - 31/6/1996   BSc Mathematics (First Class Honours)

Dr Barrick's research concentrates on the development of MR image acquisition and analysis techniques and imaging biomarkers for application to clinical multimodal MRI studies.

His current focus is on the development and application of novel diffusion MRI acquisition and analysis techniques that are capable of quantifying tissue heterogeneity in the brain. This new technique, known as Quasi-Diffusion Imaging (QDI) provides information beyond standard Gaussian diffusion models that are commonly applied in diffusion MR imaging. QDI has great potential to offer new insights and clinically relevant information regarding pathological disease processes.

Dr Barrick has published 110 peer reviewed journal articles and has a H-index of 38 (Europe PubMed Central). A full list of his journal articles can be found on ORCID.

Selected publications 

Quasi-Diffusion Imaging

  1. Spilling, C. A., Howe, F. A., & Barrick, T. R. (2022). Optimization of quasi-diffusion magnetic resonance imaging for quantitative accuracy and time-efficient acquisition.. Magn Reson Med, 88(6), 2532-2547. doi:1002/mrm.29420
  2. Barrick, T. R., Spilling, C. A., Hall, M. G., & Howe, F. A. (2021). The Mathematics of Quasi-Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging. MATHEMATICS, 9(15). doi:3390/math9151763
  3. Barrick, T. R., Spilling, C. A., Ingo, C., Madigan, J., Isaacs, J. D., Rich, P., . . . Howe, F. A. (2020). Quasi-diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (QDI): A fast, high b-value diffusion imaging technique.. Neuroimage, 211, 116606. doi:1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116606

Cerebrovascular disease

  1. Pauls, M. M., Fish, J., Binnie, L. R., Benjamin, P., Betteridge, S., Clarke, B., . . . Hainsworth, A. H. (2023). Testing the cognitive effects of tadalafil. Neuropsychological secondary outcomes from the PASTIS trial.. Cereb Circ Cogn Behav, 5, 100187. doi:1016/j.cccb.2023.100187
  2. Kumar, A. A., Yeo, N., Whittaker, M., Attra, P., Barrick, T. R., Bridges, L. R., . . . Hainsworth, A. H. (2022). Vascular Collagen Type-IV in Hypertension and Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.. Stroke, 53(12), 3696-3705. doi:1161/STROKEAHA.122.037761
  3. Pflanz, C. P., Egle, M. S., O'Brien, J. T., Morris, R. G., Barrick, T. R., Blamire, A. M., . . . PRESERVE study group. (2022). Association of Blood Pressure Lowering Intensity With White Matter Network Integrity in Patients With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.. Neurology, 99(17), e1945-e1953. doi:1212/WNL.0000000000201018
  4. Egle, M., Hilal, S., Tuladhar, A. M., Pirpamer, L., Bell, S., Hofer, E., . . . Markus, H. S. (2022). Determining the OPTIMAL DTI analysis method for application in cerebral small vessel disease.. Neuroimage Clin, 35, 103114. doi:1016/j.nicl.2022.103114
  5. Pauls, M. M. H., Binnie, L. R., Benjamin, P., Betteridge, S., Clarke, B., Dhillon, M. -P. K., . . . Hainsworth, A. H. (2022). The PASTIS trial: Testing tadalafil for possible use in vascular cognitive impairment.. Alzheimers Dement, 18(12), 2393-2402. doi:1002/alz.12559
  6. Binnie, L. R., Pauls, M. M. H., Benjamin, P., Dhillon, M. -P. K., Betteridge, S., Clarke, B., . . . Hainsworth, A. H. (2022). Test-retest reliability of arterial spin labelling for cerebral blood flow in older adults with small vessel disease.. Transl Stroke Res, 13(4), 583-594. doi:1007/s12975-021-00983-5
  7. Markus, H. S., Egle, M., Croall, I. D., Sari, H., Khan, U., Hassan, A., . . . PRESERVE Study Team. (2021). PRESERVE: Randomized Trial of Intensive Versus Standard Blood Pressure Control in Small Vessel Disease.. Stroke, 52(8), 2484-2493. doi:1161/STROKEAHA.120.032054
  8. Tay, J., Lisiecka-Ford, D. M., Hollocks, M. J., Tuladhar, A. M., Barrick, T. R., Forster, A., . . . Markus, H. S. (2020). Network neuroscience of apathy in cerebrovascular disease.. Prog Neurobiol, 188, 101785. doi:1016/j.pneurobio.2020.101785
  9. Williams, O. A., Zeestraten, E. A., Benjamin, P., Lambert, C., Lawrence, A. J., Mackinnon, A. D., . . . Charlton, R. A. (2019). Predicting Dementia in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Using an Automatic Diffusion Tensor Image Segmentation Technique.. Stroke, 50(10), 2775-2782. doi:1161/STROKEAHA.119.025843
  10. Tay, J., Tuladhar, A. M., Hollocks, M. J., Brookes, R. L., Tozer, D. J., Barrick, T. R., . . . Markus, H. S. (2019). Apathy is associated with large-scale white matter network disruption in small vessel disease.. Neurology, 92(11), e1157-e1167. doi:1212/WNL.0000000000007095
  11. Tozer, D. J., Zeestraten, E., Lawrence, A. J., Barrick, T. R., & Markus, H. S. (2018). Texture Analysis of T1-Weighted and Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery Images Detects Abnormalities That Correlate With Cognitive Decline in Small Vessel Disease.. Stroke, 49(7), 1656-1661. doi:1161/STROKEAHA.117.019970
  12. Lambert, C., Zeestraten, E., Williams, O., Benjamin, P., Lawrence, A. J., Morris, R. G., . . . Markus, H. S. (2018). Identifying preclinical vascular dementia in symptomatic small vessel disease using MRI.. Neuroimage Clin, 19, 925-938. doi:1016/j.nicl.2018.06.023
  13. Croall, I. D., Tozer, D. J., Moynihan, B., Khan, U., O'Brien, J. T., Morris, R. G., . . . PRESERVE Study Team. (2018). Effect of Standard vs Intensive Blood Pressure Control on Cerebral Blood Flow in Small Vessel Disease: The PRESERVE Randomized Clinical Trial.. JAMA Neurol, 75(6), 720-727. doi:1001/jamaneurol.2017.5153
  14. Lawrence, A. J., Zeestraten, E. A., Benjamin, P., Lambert, C. P., Morris, R. G., Barrick, T. R., & Markus, H. S. (2018). Longitudinal decline in structural networks predicts dementia in cerebral small vessel disease.. Neurology, 90(21), e1898-e1910. doi:1212/WNL.0000000000005551
  15. Lisiecka-Ford, D. M., Tozer, D. J., Morris, R. G., Lawrence, A. J., Barrick, T. R., & Markus, H. S. (2018). Involvement of the reward network is associated with apathy in cerebral small vessel disease.. J Affect Disord, 232, 116-121. doi:1016/j.jad.2018.02.006
  16. Benjamin, P., Trippier, S., Lawrence, A. J., Lambert, C., Zeestraten, E., Williams, O. A., . . . Markus, H. S. (2018). Lacunar Infarcts, but Not Perivascular Spaces, Are Predictors of Cognitive Decline in Cerebral Small-Vessel Disease.. Stroke, 49(3), 586-593. doi:1161/STROKEAHA.117.017526
  17. Pauls, M. M., Moynihan, B., Barrick, T. R., Kruuse, C., Madigan, J. B., Hainsworth, A. H., & Isaacs, J. D. (2018). The effect of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors on cerebral blood flow in humans: A systematic review.. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab, 38(2), 189-203. doi:1177/0271678X17747177

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

  1. Spilling, C. A., Dhillon, M. -P. K., Burrage, D. R., Ruickbie, S., Baker, E. H., Barrick, T. R., & Jones, P. W. (2021). Factors affecting brain structure in smoking-related diseases: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and coronary artery disease.. PLoS One, 16(11), e0259375. doi:1371/journal.pone.0259375
  2. Spilling, C. A., Jones, P. W., Dodd, J. W., & Barrick, T. R. (2019). Disruption of white matter connectivity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.. PLoS One, 14(10), e0223297. doi:1371/journal.pone.0223297
  3. Spilling, C. A., Bajaj, M. -P. K., Burrage, D. R., Ruickbie, S., Thai, N. J., Baker, E. H., . . . Dodd, J. W. (2019). Contributions of cardiovascular risk and smoking to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-related changes in brain structure and function.. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis, 14, 1855-1866. doi:2147/COPD.S213607

Brain tumour

  1. Raschke, F., Barrick, T. R., Jones, T. L., Yang, G., Ye, X., & Howe, F. A. (2019). Tissue-type mapping of gliomas.. Neuroimage Clin, 21, 101648. doi:1016/j.nicl.2018.101648
  2. Soltaninejad, M., Yang, G., Lambrou, T., Allinson, N., Jones, T. L., Barrick, T. R., . . . Ye, X. (2018). Supervised learning based multimodal MRI brain tumour segmentation using texture features from supervoxels.. Comput Methods Programs Biomed, 157, 69-84. doi:1016/j.cmpb.2018.01.003

Dementia

  1. Clarke, N., Barrick, T. R., & Garrard, P. (2021). A Comparison of Connected Speech Tasks for Detecting Early Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. FRONTIERS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, 3. doi:3389/fcomp.2021.634360

Parkinson's disease

  1. Ishihara, B. K., Hart, M. G., Barrick, T. R., Howe, F. A., Morgante, F., & Pereira, E. A. (2023). Radiofrequency thalamotomy for tremor produces focused and predictable lesions shown on magnetic resonance images.. Brain Commun, 5(6), fcad329. doi:1093/braincomms/fcad329

Active and recent funding has been from:

GSK

St George's Hospital Charity

Medical Research Council

Innovate UK

Cancer Research UK

St George's Innovation and Enterprise Award

Alzheimer's Research UK

Collaborations within St George's, University of London

Dr Camilla Clark, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Neurologist

Professor Franklyn Howe, Professor of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Dr Atticus Hainsworth, Reader in Cerebrovascular Disease

Mr Michael Hart, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Neurosurgeon

Dr Jeremy Isaacs, Consultant Neurologist

Professor Paul Jones, Emeritus Professor of Respiratory Medicine

Mr Timothy Jones, Consultant Neurosurgeon

 

Current Research Group

Dr Mohani-Preet Dhillon (Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Education and Research)

Mike Mills (MRI physicist)

Ian Storey (Image Analyst)

 

Collaborations outside St George's, University of London

Dr James Dodd, Associate Professor in Respiratory Medicine, University of Bristol, UK.

Dr Matt Hall, Principal Scientist (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), National Physical Laboratory, UK.

Dr Carson Ingo, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences and Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA.

Professor Richard Magin, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Engineering and Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.

Professor Hugh Markus,  Professor of Neurology, University of Cambridge, UK.

Dr Viktor Vegh, Associate Professor of Image Analysis and Methodology Development, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Dr Barrick provides lectures and supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research projects. These include:

  • Lectures on the Clinical Neuroscience module (BSc Biomedical Sciences).
  • Supervision of research project students on the following courses:  
    • BSc Clinical Pharmacology (second year undergraduate)
    • BSc Biomedical Sciences    (final year undergraduate)
    • MSc and Mres students
  • Supervision of PhD students
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