The Department of Perinatal Imaging & Health’s research aims to reduce the number of children who suffer brain damage in the perinatal period through close alignment with the Centre for the Developing Brain.
Working with St Thomas’ Hospital and Evelina Children’s Hospital, our clinicians, scientists and academics study the causes and consequences of neurodevelopmental impairment from fundamental science through to clinical practice. Taking advantage of powerful new imaging technologies, we want to contribute to new understanding of how brain structures develop at the earliest stage.
Current Areas of Research
The department is active in many research areas including;
- Brain Development
- Neurobiology
- Imaging Physics
- Perinatal Imaging
- Advanced Neuroimaging
- Cardiovascular Imaging
- Clinical Studies
- Image Analysis and Modelling
The Perinatal Imaging Department is actively recruiting for several projects that are scanning during pregnancy as well as shortly after birth. The videos below demonstrate the process of scanning at these different time points.
If you want to find out more about the active research studies that are imaging during pregnancy or shortly after, please contact: gst-tr.fetalbookings@nhs.net or call us at 0207 188 7083.
Fetal Scanning Video Process
Neonatal Scanning Video Process
Core Facilities & Infrastructure
The Department of Perinatal Imaging & Health is part of the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences at King’s College London. The department performs cutting-edge research which is dedicated to the development and use of the most advanced medical imaging (in particular MRI scanning) and computational methods. Ultimately, our vision is to develop new ways to diagnose, understand and ultimately treat illnesses that affect the brain as it develops during the crucial period around birth, so that we can improve outcomes for children affected by conditions that affect the early brain. Placed uniquely within St Thomas’ Hospital London, which enables us to perform truly translational research, which extends right from basic science through to use in the hospital with patients.
We have over 70 members of staff with diverse but complementary skills and experience including clinical staff (doctors, nurses, midwives, radiographers), biologists, computer scientists, physicists, engineers, and research governance and administration. This ensures that by working together, everything we do can benefit from the very best skills across all of the key areas needed to conduct and support our work.
Our department has an advanced MRI scanning facility (the Evelina Newborn Imaging Centre (ENIC)) on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital. This means that we are able to perform MRI scans on even the sickest and smallest babies who are requiring intensive care support; pregnant ladies so we can assess the health of the fetus or placenta; and children with neurological conditions such as epilepsy. In the facility we have a state-of-the-art 3 Tesla MRI scanner which is dedicated to our work, a portable ultra-low-field Hyperfine MRI scanner, and dedicated assessment rooms and a ward space for completing psychological tests and medical examinations. We also use the cutting edge infrastructure and facilities from across the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences which includes one of only a handful of ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRI systems in the UK, engineering laboratories, a further 6 MRI scanners with field strengths varying from 0.55 Tesla to 3 Tesla, a MedTech cluster to support and progress the next generation of technologies, and advanced computing capabilities.
