Introduction to Research in Neuroimaging for PTSD and TBI

Program directors:

Rajendra Morey, M.D., Principal Investigator: rajendra.morey@duke.edu

C. Lexi Baird, Clinical Research Coordinator: christine.baird@duke.edu

Program staff:

Lexi Baird, Clinical Research Coordinator: christine.baird@duke.edu

Ahmed Hussain, Clinical Research Assistant: ahmed.hussain@duke.edu

Jenna Beakas, Clinical Research Assistant: jenna.beakas@duke.edu

Rajendra Morey, M.D., Principal Investigator: rajendra.morey@duke.edu

For all program correspondence and to apply for the program, please email Lexi at christine.baird@duke.edu

Program description:

Our program, Introduction to Research in Neuroimaging for PTSD and TBI, is designed to offer students between the ages of 16 and 22 years old who have an interest in neuroscience and psychology an opportunity to work in a neuroimaging laboratory. This program has no academic pre-requisites, and is open to students with a wide range of academic experiences.

Through this summer program, interns will be given opportunities to attend structured lessons led by researchers on various scientific topics. These lessons will be structured as workshops, data blitzes, or clinical case presentations, and will be led by a member of the program staff. In addition, interns will be encouraged to conduct their own literature reviews and share their findings in weekly meetings.

In addition to the structured lessons, interns will assist with data entry and quality assurance checks of de-identified study data to gain experience working with different types of study data. Interns will also assist with preparing and organizing de-identified documents for study visits. Interns may be recruited to assist with data analysis projects based on their research interests so that they may gain hands-on experience applying statistics and basic data analysis skills to real study data.

Program time-commitment:

8-10 hours a week
Option to come in for two, 4-to-5-hour days or one, 8-hour day
When classes resume, interns will be given the option to continue their internship in a limited capacity until December 14th, 2024. Hours may be reduced to accommodate class schedules.

Benefits of the program:

Our program, Introduction to Research in Neuroimaging for PTSD and TBI, is designed to help students develop an understanding of scientific research principles and how they apply to clinical neuroimaging, specifically in research investigating PTSD and TBI. We hope that these lessons, workshops, and hands-on experience working with data will help interns develop their own research interests. We hope that through our program, our program staff will serve as mentors to help students choose career paths that interest them. Our program staff has been carefully selected to include researchers with diverse backgrounds and experience to provide insight to our interns on a variety of career paths and college degrees, including: Medical school, Clinical Psychology PhD programs and Bachelor’s programs in Biochemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience.

Learning Plan

The following list includes topics for didactic lessons, data blitzes and workshops that our program staff may lead as a part of this program. All lessons will be conducted in a group setting with at least two members of program staff present.

Introductions to Neuroscience, Psychiatric Disorders and Neurotrauma

Intro to PTSD (~15min)
Intro to Vision (~45min)
Intro to Gyrification (~20min, A. Hussain)
Classifying TBI (~30min, C. Baird)
Sports-Related Concussion (~30min, C. Baird)

PTSD-mTBI comorbidity (~30min)
Neuro-Oncology (~20min)
Repeated Head Impacts, Dementia and CTE (~20min, C. Baird)
Chronic Pain (~30min, J. Beakas)
Substance Use Disorder-PSTD comorbidity (~30 min, J. Beakas)
Intro to Human Neuroanatomy (~45min)

What is Clinical Neuropsychology? (~20-30min)
Intro to Human Memory (~45min)
Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (~45min)
Intro to fMRI (~45min + C. Baird)
Intro to Machine Learning (~3hours, A. Hussain)
Intro to Neurogenetics (~45 min, Dr. Morey)

Data Blitzes

Using ultra-high field 7T fMRI to understand human fear generalization in the brain (~15min)

Brain age estimation using multi-modal neuroimaging data (~15min, C. Baird)
Functional connectivity of the PAG as a predictor of PTSD (~15min)
Impact of neighborhood disadvantage on neural processing of unpredictable threat in youth (~15min)

Transdiagnostic links between reward responsivity and risk-taking propensity (~15min)
Effects of neighborhood disadvantage on cognitive functioning in the aftermath of trauma (~15min)
Mega-analysis of cerebellar structural volumes in PTSD

Case Presentations

Exposure-based therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder (~20-30min)

Neuropsychological assessment of remote mTBI (~20-30min)

Workshops

Scoring raw data for Neuropsychology (~2 hours J. Beakas)
Introduction to statistical programming in R (~2 hours, C. Baird)
Scoring clinical interviews (~2 hours C. Baird)

Introduction to quality checks for MRI data (~2 hours, Dr. Morey)
Building a C.V. (~1 hour, J. Beakas)
Is PhD or MD/DO Right for Me? (~45 min, J.Beakas)
Introduction to Literature Reviews (~2 hours, J. Beakas + C. Baird)
Intro to writing scientific papers (~45 min, Dr. Morey)
Scientific Peer Review (~20min)