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King’s People

Biography

Nick (Nicolaas) Puts is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, United Kingdom. He joined King’s College London in January of 2020. Before this, he was a postdoctoral fellow and then assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the USA. Nick did his PhD at Cardiff University and his BSc in Biology and MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Nick runs the “Sensory InPuts” lab (where they study sensory processing in health and disease. The lab uses a combinations of methods, including psychophysics and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to assess sensory processing in children with and without neurodevelopmental conditions (autism, ADHD, Tourettes syndrome). Ultimately, their aim is to better understand the nature of sensory difficulties, and to identify clear biomarkers of altered sensory function with impact on the core symptoms of ASD and ADHD with clear targets for potential diagnosis and intervention. This is done in various research lines, and predominantly in the AIMS-2-TRIALS consortium.

Nick have a strong interest in supporting junior scientists in their career development, developed a short but useful Individual Development Plan, and was the first appointed Postdoc Program Director in his Department at JHU and he is currently working on supporting novel mentorship and professional development opportunities in the IOPPN. Nick also have a strong interest in science communication to the public, and developed workshops on science communication.

Research Interests

  • Autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions
  • Touch and other senses
  • Advanced Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Psychophysics
  • Sensory differences
  • Neurodevelopment


Research Groups

  • Sensory Functions in Autism consortium

Expertise and Public Engagement

  • INSAR ECC committee mentoring initiative co-lead (and committee member)
  • Instructor on Mentorship and Speaking to General Audience (ECRAN, INSAR ECC)
  • Regular public lectures + training (prior: Most Valued Partner award, Wales)
  • Sensory functions in autism consortium member
  • AIMS-2-TRIALS consortium member
  • Co-organizer EDITINGSCHOOL and International Symposium on GABA and Advanced MRS
  • Regular review panels (NIH, Wellcome, MRC)

Description

Nick contributes to teaching and supervision on a number of courses:

  • Module 3 co-lead (lead on statistics) for MSc Clinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences and MSc Forensic Mental Health
  • Dissertation supervisor
  • BSc Psychology final year project supervisor