Tim Lawn

ABOUT ME

I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center where I currently combine ultra-high field functional imaging of the brainstem and functional networks to investigate how dysfunction of neuromodulatory systems give rise to the earliest neuropsychiatric and cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

During my PhD in the Center for Neuroimaging Sciences at King's College London I worked on novel multi-modal approaches to combine molecular information from PET into BOLD fMRI analyses to investigate psychopharmacology, consciousness, and neuropsychiatric disorders.

RESEARCH

I investigate how the brain's neuromodulatory neurotransmitter systems shape broader network dynamics, how this is altered across various disorders, and how we can intervene in these processes with precision medicine.

Multi-modal Neuroimaging

Combining PET molecular imaging with fMRI to understand neurotransmitter-network relationships across psychiatric disorders and consciousness states.

Neuromodulatory Systems Networks

Brainstem Imaging

3T and 7T imaging of brainstem nuclei to characterize neuromodulatory system dysfunction in preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease and its relationship to cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Optimized Preprocessing Neuromodulatory Systems

Machine Learning

Normative and prediction modeling using molecular-enriched networks to parse heterogeneity in symptomatology and treatment response.

Normative Modeling Treatment Prediction Transdiagnostic

Psychopharmacology

Bridging the gap between the molecular-level mechanisms of drugs and their systems-level effects on networks.

Psychedelics Anesthesia

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Normative modeling of molecular-based functional circuits captures clinical heterogeneity transdiagnostically in psychiatric patients

Timothy Lawn, Alessio Giacomel, Daniel Martins, et al. (2024). Communications Biology.

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Beyond biopsychosocial: The keystone mechanism theory of pain

Timothy Lawn, Manon Sendel, Ralf Baron, Jan Vollert et al. (2023). Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

PDF Journal

From neurotransmitters to networks: Transcending organizational hierarchies with molecular-informed functional imaging

Timothy Lawn, Matthew A. Howard, Federico Turkheimer, et al. (2023). Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

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Differential contributions of serotonergic and dopaminergic functional connectivity to the phenomenology of LSD

Timothy Lawn, Ottavia Dipasquale, Alexandros Vamvakas, et al. (2022). Psychopharmacology.

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View All Publications

ABOUT ME

RESEARCH

Multi-modal Neuroimaging

Brainstem Imaging

Machine Learning

Psychopharmacology

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Normative modeling of molecular-based functional circuits captures clinical heterogeneity transdiagnostically in psychiatric patients

Beyond biopsychosocial: The keystone mechanism theory of pain

From neurotransmitters to networks: Transcending organizational hierarchies with molecular-informed functional imaging

Differential contributions of serotonergic and dopaminergic functional connectivity to the phenomenology of LSD

IN THE MEDIA

Every patient is different, and so are their brains

Neuroscientists gain a deeper understanding of how LSD affects molecular brain activity

IASP Pain Research Forum Podcasts: The Keystone Mechanism Theory of Pain