CV

Education

• Ph.D. in Neuroimaging, King’s College London, 2024
  • Thesis: Molecular-enriched Functional Networks Underlying Consciousness and Cognition
  • Passed without corrections
  • Supervisors: Mathew Howard, Ottavia Dipasquale, Marzia Malcangio
• M.Sc. in Clinical Neuroscience, King’s College London, 2019
  • Distinction (2nd highest mark in cohort - 76%)
  • Thesis: Cerebellar Correlates of Visual Hallucinations in Parkinson’s Disease, Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and Schizophrenia
  • Supervisor: Dominic ffytche
• B.Sc. in Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology, King’s College London, 2018
  • First class honours (3rd highest mark in cohort - 78%)
  • Thesis: Translational Barriers in Neuropathic Pain Research
  • Supervisor: Peter McNaughton

Professional Experience

• 2026 - Present: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • University of Oxford
  • Projects: Behavioural and neural roles of serotonin and dopamine in frontal cortex
  • Supervisors: Heidi Jacobs & Jorge Sepulcre
• 2024 - 2026: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Athinoula A. Martinos Centre for Biomedical Imaging
  • Harvard Medical School and Mass General Hospital
  • Projects: Large scale brainstem and multi-modal fMRI analyses of resilience and heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease
  • Supervisors: Nima Khalighinejad, Steven Kennerly, & Matthew Rushworth

Continued Education

• Applied Biostatistics, Harvard Medical School, 2024-2025
• HST.583: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Data Acquisition and Analysis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fall 2024 (Audited)

Research Skills

• Programming
  • Python, R, Matlab, Bash
  • High-performance computing using Sun Grid Engines and Slurm
• Neuroimaging
  • FSL, AFNI, SPM, Freesurfer, fMRIprep
• Data Analysis
  • Large datasets (N > 500)
  • Highly multi-modal and multivariate methods
• Visualization
  • Strong graphic design skills across multiple software packages

Grants and Awards

• Brainstem Cost Action Young Researcher and Innovator Conference grant (€950)
• Best Poster Prize – The Integrative Neuromodulatory Subcortical Systems (INSS) meeting (2025)
• Travel grant: Human Amyloid Imaging - $600 (2024)
• Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust – co-award - £40,000 (2024)
• Short listed – BRUK Traumatic brain injury fund - £300,000 (2024)
• Best Innovation and Translation talk at the KCL School of Neuroscience Symposium (2023)
• Best 3-minute-thesis presentation: NIHR Maudsley BRC (2022)
• NIHR Grant Writing retreat - ~£500 (2022)
• NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) 4-year PhD studentship - ~£150,000 (2019)
• KCL Neuroscience Symposium Best poster (2019)
• NIHR Academy Members Conference - ~£500 (2019)
• MSc: Clinical Neuroscience medal for consistently achieving outstanding results (2019)
• MSc: Clinical Neuroscience academic scholarship - ~£10,000 (2018)
• BSc: Biomedical Science Prize (highest achieving student in faculty) nominee (2018)
• BSc: Highest achieving student in Perspectives on Pain and CNS disorders (2018)
• BSc: Best Ex vivo neuroanatomy examination award (2017)

Publications

Spatial collinearity constrains multivariate molecular-enriched network estimation

Lawn, T., Nakuci, J., Williams, S.C.R., Turkheimer, F., & Mehta, M.A. (2026). Spatial collinearity constrains multivariate molecular-enriched network estimation. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2026.06.10.731385

Towards Molecular Specificity in Pharmacoimaging

Lawn, T., & Mehta, M.A. (2026). Towards Molecular Specificity in Pharmacoimaging. Imaging Neuroscience. doi:10.1162/IMAG.a.1175

Locus Coeruleus Connectivity Confers Cognitive Resilience in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease

Lawn, T., Diez, I., Bueichekú, E., Coughlan, G., Rentz, D. M., Johnson, K. A., Sperling, R. A., Sepulcre, J., & Jacobs, H. I. L. (2026). Locus Coeruleus Connectivity Confers Cognitive Resilience in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease. Submitted.

Cuff Algometry Induces Large Yet Variable Conditioned Pain Modulation Effects

Lawn, T., Taylor, J.L., Kowalczyk, O., Graven-Nielsen, T., Howard, M.A., & Bannister, K. (2025). Cuff Algometry Induces Large Yet Variable Conditioned Pain Modulation Effects. Pain Reports.

Accurate and Interpretable Prediction of Antidepressant Treatment Response from Receptor-informed Neuroimaging

Tolle, H.M., Luppi, A.I., Lawn, T., Roseman, L., Nutt, D., Carhart-Harris, R.L., & Mediano, P.A.M. (2025). Accurate and Interpretable Prediction of Antidepressant Treatment Response from Receptor-informed Neuroimaging. bioRxiv.

Improving neuropathic pain treatment–by rigorous stratification from bench to bedside

Soliman, N., Kersebaum, D., Lawn, T., Sachau, J., Sendel, M., & Vollert, J. (2024). Improving neuropathic pain treatment–by rigorous stratification from bench to bedside. Journal of Neurochemistry, 168(11), 3699-3714.

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

Lawn, T., Giacomel, A., Martins, D., et al. (2024). Normative modeling of molecular-based functional circuits captures clinical heterogeneity transdiagnostically in psychiatric patients. Communications Biology, 7, 728.

Beyond biopsychosocial: The keystone mechanism theory of pain

Lawn, T., Sendel, M., Baron, R., Vollert, J., et al. (2023). Beyond biopsychosocial: The keystone mechanism theory of pain. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Harnessing the power of endogenous pain control mechanisms for novel therapeutics: how might innovations in neuroimaging help?

Howard, M.A., Lawn, T., & Kowalczyk, O.S. (2023). Harnessing the power of endogenous pain control mechanisms for novel therapeutics: how might innovations in neuroimaging help? Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care, 17(3), 150-155.

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

Lawn, T., Howard, M.A., Turkheimer, F., et al. (2023). From neurotransmitters to networks: Transcending organizational hierarchies with molecular-informed functional imaging. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

The effects of propofol anaesthesia on molecular-enriched networks during resting-state and naturalistic listening

Lawn, T., Martins, D., O'Daly, O., Williams, S., Howard, M., & Dipasquale, O. (2023). The effects of propofol anaesthesia on molecular-enriched networks during resting-state and naturalistic listening. NeuroImage, 271, 120018.

Neurotransmitter receptor densities are associated with changes in regional Cerebral blood flow during clinical ongoing pain

Vamvakas, A., Lawn, T., Veronese, M., Williams, S.C.R., Tsougos, I., & Howard, M.A. (2022). Neurotransmitter receptor densities are associated with changes in regional Cerebral blood flow during clinical ongoing pain. Human Brain Mapping, 43(17), 5235-5249.

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

Lawn, T., Dipasquale, O., Vamvakas, A., et al. (2022). Differential contributions of serotonergic and dopaminergic functional connectivity to the phenomenology of LSD. Psychopharmacology.

Response to Mylius et al.

Lawn, T., Rukavina, K., Malcangio, M., Howard, M., & Chaudhuri, K.R. (2022). Response to Mylius et al. Pain, 163(3), e496-e497.

Cerebellar involvement in hallucinations may transcend clinical conditions and perceptual modalities

Lawn, T., & ffytche, D. (2021). Cerebellar involvement in hallucinations may transcend clinical conditions and perceptual modalities. Cortex.

Pain in the neurodegenerating brain: insights into pharmacotherapy for Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease

Lawn, T., Aman, Y., Rukavina, K., Sideris-Lampretsas, G., Howard, M., Ballard, C., Chaudhuri, K.R., & Malcangio, M. (2021). Pain in the neurodegenerating brain: insights into pharmacotherapy for Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease. Pain, 162(4), 999-1006.

Cerebellar correlates of visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease and Charles Bonnet Syndrome

Lawn, T., & ffytche, D. (2021). Cerebellar correlates of visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease and Charles Bonnet Syndrome. Cortex, 135, 311-325.

Selected Invited Talks

• 2026 Neuroimaging without a scanner: making the most of open data - Studying the Human Brain NeuroimEx, Exeter University, UK
• 2025: Pushing forwards clinical neuroscience with brainstem fMRI - Yale MRRC Neuroscience Seminar Series, New Haven, USA
• 2025: Functional submodules in the human locus Coeruleus are differentially susceptible to tau pathology - Human Amyloid Imaging, Puerto Rico, USA
• 2024: Transcending organisational hierarchies with Molecular-enriched fMRI - Athinoula A. Martinos Centre for Biomedical Imaging, Cambridge, USA
• 2024: Transdiagnostic multi-modal imaging in psychiatry - Holmes Lab (Yale), New Haven, USA
• 2023: Parsing psychiatric heterogeneity with molecular-enriched fMRI and normative modelling - KCL School of Neuroscience Symposium, London, UK
• 2022: Multi-modal analysis of neuromodulatory systems - Shine Lab (Sydney), Sydney, Australia
• 2022: Pain in the neurodegenerating brain: implications for pharmacotherapy - The Oxford Advanced Pain and Symptom Management Course, Oxford, UK
• 2022: The molecular-enriched functional circuits underlying consciousness and cognition - IOPPN Brilliant Minds Lecture Series, London, UK

Teaching

• Supervised two BSc project students, one of whom went directly into a PhD (2022-2023)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant for KCL MSc Clinical Neuroscience (2020-2023)
• Assessor for KCL BSc module “Perspectives on Pain & CNS Disorders” (2018-2024)
• Ex vivo surface neuroanatomy demonstrator (2019-2022)
• Neurophysiology demonstrator (2019-2021)
• Private academic Tutor (Maths, Biology, and Combined Sciences from primary school to A-levels) (2014-2018)