Dr Michael Thrippleton (PhD (cantab))
Clinical Scientist, Senior Research Fellow

- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences
- Edinburgh Imaging
Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)1314 659529
- Email: m.j.thrippleton@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Chancellor's Building
49 Little France Crescent - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH16 4SB
Background
After graduating with a MSci in Natural Sciences, I remained at Cambridge University to obtain a PhD in the development of novel magnetic resonance (MR) pulse sequences. During this time I developed several techniques including the Thrippleton-Keeler filter for suppression of zero-quantum coherence artefacts. Following postdoctoral research in solid-state MR at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Glasgow, I joined the University of Edinburgh in 2008 to work with Professor Hilary Critchley on a clinical trial of MR imaging of patients with uterine fibroids.
In my current role I support a large number of academic and commercial clinical studies requiring MR imaging. In 2016 I helped to establish the Edinburgh Imaging Facility at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where I continue to provide scientific input to facility operation. My research focus is presently advanced neuroimaging in cerebral small vessel disease and other conditions, including DCE-MRI and cerebrovascular reactivity measurement.
GitHub page (including Matlab software for processing DCE-MRI, relaxometry and magnetisation transfer ratio/saturation.)
Qualifications
HCPC-registered Clinical Scientist
Chartered Scientist
Full Member, Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
Full Member, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
PhD Natural Science, University of Cambridge
M.Sci Natural Sciences (First Class), University of Cambridge
Responsibilities & affiliations
Senior Research Fellow (Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Dementia Research Institute)
Medical Physicist and MR Safety Expert, Edinburgh Imaging Facility (Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh)
Undergraduate teaching
"Quantitative MRI" lecture, Department of Physics
Postgraduate teaching
Neuroimaging for Research MSc
Imaging MSc
- creation of online teaching material
- tutoring, marking
Current PhD students supervised
Emilie Sleight
Cameron Manning
Alasdair Morgan
Past PhD students supervised
Yulu Shi
Anna Heye
Jehill Parikh
Research summary
My research is currently focused on the development of advanced MR imaging techniques and their application in neurological diseases.
Disease areas:
- Cerebral small vessel disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Pre-term birth
Techniques:
- Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of the brain
- Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) for probing the blood-brain barrier
- MR cerebrovascular reactivity imaging
- MR imaging of fluid flow
- MR spectroscopy and brain temperature measurement
- MR relaxometry
- Magnetisation transfer
- MR phantom development
Past research interests:
- Solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
- pulse sequence development
- diffusion measurement
- accelerated acquisition and artefact reduction
- Solid-state NMR of spin-half and quadrupolar nuclei
- In-vivo and ex-vivo MRI of the uterus
Knowledge exchange
Member of HARNESS initiative to disseminate and standardise neuroimaging protocols for measuring the contributions of vascular disease to dementia and neurodegeneration.
Lead, HARNESS blood-brain barrier permeability group (consensus paper, Alzherimers & Dementia)
Taskforce lead, Open Source Initiative for Perfusion Imaging (OSIPI)
Affiliated research centres
Project activity
Current clinical studies:
- Investigate-SVDs (EU-funded multi-centre imaging study of cerebral small vessel disesase)
- TREAT-SVDs (EU-funded clinical trial in cerebral small vessel disease)
- Brain Changes in Sleep Apnoea (Fondation Leducq funded imaging study of sleep apnoea)
- Mild Stroke Study 3 (MRC/Fondation Leducq funded study of cerebral small vessel disease)
- FutureMS (Scotland-wide study of relapsing-onset multiple sclerosis)
- Theirworld Edinburgh Birth Cohort
-
Hierarchical complexity of the macro-scale neonatal brain
In:
Cerebral Cortex
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa345
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Maternal cortisol is associated with neonatal amygdala microstructure and connectivity in a sexually dimorphic manner
In:
eLIFE
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.60729
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
4D flow MRI for non-invasive measurement of blood flow in the brain: A systematic review
In:
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, pp. 0271678X2095201
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0271678X20952014
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Interleukin-8 dysregulation is implicated in brain dysmaturation following preterm birth.
In:
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A Framework for Jointly Assessing and Reducing Imaging Artefacts Automatically Using Texture Analysis and Total Variation Optimisation for Improving Perivascular Spaces Quantification in Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52791-4_14
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Rationale and design of a longitudinal study of cerebral small vessel diseases, clinical and imaging outcomes in patients presenting with mild ischaemic stroke: Mild Stroke Study 3
In:
European Stroke Journal, pp. 239698732092961
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2396987320929617
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Intracranial haemodynamic relationships in patients with cerebral small vessel disease
In:
Neurology, vol. 94
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000009483
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Relationship Between Venules and Perivascular Spaces in Sporadic Small Vessel Diseases
In:
Stroke
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.120.029163
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Peak width of skeletonized water diffusion MRI in the neonatal brain
In:
Frontiers in Neurology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.00235
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Impact of preterm birth on brain development and long-term outcome: protocol for a cohort study in Scotland
In:
BMJ Open
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/ bmjopen-2019-035854
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Cerebral microbleeds and stroke risk after ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack: a pooled analysis of individual patient data from cohort studies
(13 pages)
In:
Lancet Neurology, vol. 18, pp. 653-665
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(19)30197-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Quantifying BBB leakage in small vessel disease: review and consensus recommendations
In:
Alzheimer's & Dementia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2019.01.013
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Tolerability, safety and intermediary pharmacological effects of cilostazol and isosorbide mononitrate, alone and combined, in patients with lacunar ischaemic stroke: The LACunar Intervention-1 (LACI-1) trial, a randomised clinical trial
In:
EClinicalMedicine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2019.04.001
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Harmonizing brain magnetic resonance imaging methods for vascular contributions to neurodegeneration
In:
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, vol. 11, pp. 191-204
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dadm.2019.01.002
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
MRI Relaxometry for Quantitative Analysis of USPIO Uptake in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease
In:
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 20, pp. 776
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20030776
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Convolutional Neural Networks for Direct Inference of Pharmacokinetic Parameters: Application to Stroke Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI
In:
Frontiers in Neurology, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.01147
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
MRI measurement of blood-brain barrier leakage: filling the gaps
In:
Journal of Physiology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1113/JP277425
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Small vessel disease is associated with altered cerebrovascular pulsatility but not resting cerebral blood flow
In:
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, pp. 0271678X1880395
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0271678X18803956
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Neonatal Morphometric Similarity Networks Predict Atypical Brain Development Associated with Preterm Birth
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00755-3_6
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Characterisation of tissue-type metabolic content in Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: a Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging study
In:
Journal of Neurology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-8903-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)
Organiser
British Chapter ISMRM 2014 Meeting and Workshop