Dr Christine Ecker MSc PhD
Lecturer in Neuroimaging Sciences
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| contact this person | |
| tel | 020 7848 0947 |
| address | Dept of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences (PO50) Institute of Psychiatry De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill London SE5 8AF UK |
| location | 6th Floor Main Wing |
| departments | Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science |
| also | Brain Image Analysis Unit Brain Maturation |
biography
Dr. Ecker is a lecturer in the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), with a special interest in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She originally trained as a psychologist at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and completed an MSc in neuroscience at the University of Oxford. She joined King’s College in 2001, originally as a PhD student at the IoP, and then as post-doctoral research associate in the Section of Brain Maturation. During this time she has been the lead researcher and project coordinator of the AIMS study (Autism Imaging Multicentre Study). The AIMS consortium is an MRC funded multidisciplinary network of autism research centres in the UK, and includes the Institute of Psychiatry (King’s College London), The Autism Research Centre (University of Cambridge), and the Autism Research Group (University of Oxford). In a collaborative effort, this study aims to establish the anatomy and connectivity of brain systems underlying symptoms of ASD, and to investigate their genetic mechanisms.
Dr. Ecker’s current work is directed towards establishing neuroanatomy as a biomarker for ASD, which may be utilized in the MRI-assisted diagnosis of autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.
She is also one of the newly appointed Innovation Fellow in her Department. The Innovation Fellowship Scheme has recently been introduced by King’s College Business Ltd to support the promotion and identification of King’s innovation through research and its subsequent impact.
activities and interests
Raising Funds for Autism Research
teaching activities
MSc in Neuroscience
MSc in Mental Health in Learning Abilities
MSc in Psychiatric Research Methods
publications
Selection
Ecker C, Rocha-Rego V, Johnston P, Mourao-Miranda J, Marquand A, Daly EM, Brammer MJ, Murphy C, Murphy DG, MRC AIMS Consortium (2009). Investigating the predictive value of whole-brain structural MR scans in autism: A pattern classification approach. Neuroimage 49: 44-56
Lombardo MV, Chakrabarti B, Bullmore ET, Sadek SA, Pasco G, Wheelwright SJ, Suckling J, MRC AIMS Consortium, Baron-Cohen S (2010). Atypical neural self-representation in autism. Brain [Epub ahead of print]
Ecker C, Stahl D, Daly E, Johnston P, Thomson A, Murphy DG (2009) Is there a common underlying mechanism for age-related decline in cortical thickness?. Neuroreport 20: 1155-60
Mourao-Miranda J, Ecker C, Sato JR, Brammer, M (2009) Dynamic Changes in the Mental Rotation Network Revealed by Pattern Recognition Analysis of fMRI Data. J Cogn Neurosci 21: 890-904
Ecker C, Brammer MJ, Williams SC (2008). Combining path analysis with time-resolved functional magnetic resonance imaging: The neuro-cognitive network underlying mental rotation. J Cogn Neurosci 20: 1003-1020
Surguladze SA, Elkin A, Ecker C, Kalindini S, Corsico A, Giampietro V, Lawrence N, Deeley Q, Murphy DG, Kucharska-Pietura K, Russell TA, McGuffin P, Murray R, Phillips ML (2008). Genetic variation in the serotonin transporter modulates neural system-wide response to fearful faces. Genes Brain and Behavior 7:543-551
Ecker C, Raynaud E, Williams SC, Brammer MJ (2007). Detecting functional nodes in large-scale cortical networks with functional magnetic resonance imaging: A principle component analysis of the human visual system. Human Brain Mapping 28: 817-834
Ecker C, Brammer MJ, David AS, Williams SC (2006). Time-resolved fMRI of mental rotation revisited – dissociating visual perception from mental rotation in female subjects. Neuroimage 32: 432-444
last updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010