Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre
To accelerate clinical research and trials across a range of neurological conditions, to understand disease mechanisms and identify new treatments.
The Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre is a state-of-the-art facility for clinical research located on the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Wonford Site in Exeter. It is part of a collaborative partnership between the Royal Devon and the University of Exeter Medical School.
The construction of the Neuroimaging Centre was funded by a generous donation by the Dennis and Mireille Gillings Foundation.
The Centre, officially opened in April 2020, providing highly advanced PET-CT and MRI scanning facilities for research, clinical diagnosis and therapy.
The main mission of the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre is to foster clinical research in the field of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases aimed to discover mechanisms of disease and finding cures for these progressive disorders. It aims to transform research and diagnosis of dementia and other neurological diseases.
The Centre has the potential to benefit patients globally, putting Exeter at the forefront of neuroimaging research worldwide.
Research applications
- Molecular imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
- World-leading methodologies for the analysis and modelling of PET data.
- Range of radiopharmaceuticals, including fluorinated-18 radiotracers for tau and amyloid protein
- Computerised Tomography (CT) scans to provide meaningful information as standalone scans as well as acquired alongside PET scans to aid the analysis and interrogation of PET data.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) expertise on the acquisition of, and provide services on the analysis of, sequences including:
- Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL)
- Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI, Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging (SWI)
- Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM)
- Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI)
- functional MRI (fMRI).
Meet the team
Professor Marios Politis
Director
Dr Lisa Cashmore
Business Manager
Dr Patrick Rogers
Clinical Radiation Expert
Dr Edoardo de Natale
Clinical Applications Lead
Dr Heather Wilson
Imaging Methodology Lead
Professor Marios Politis
Director
Professor Marios Politis (MD MSc DIC PhD FRCP FEAN), is the Director of the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre. Professor Marios Politis is a Professor of Neurology & Neuroimaging, Consultant Neurologist, and the Director of Neurodegeneration Imaging Group (NIG) at the University of Exeter.
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Dr Lisa Cashmore
Business Manager
Dr Lisa Cashmore is Business Manager for the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre and Programme Manager for the Neurodegeneration Imaging Group. She works with Professor Politis to lead the development and delivery of the vision and strategic aims of the Neuroimaging Centre, as well as managing budgets and costs from research grant and commercial income.
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Dr Patrick Rogers
Clinical Radiation Expert
Dr Rogers is a Consultant Radiologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and is responsible for Nuclear Medicine imaging, including NHS PET-CT work. He is the ARSAC licence holder/practitioner for the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre.
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Dr Edoardo de Natale
Clinical Applications Lead
Dr Edoardo de Natale is a Specialist Neurologist and Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the Neurodegeneration Imaging Group at University of Exeter.
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Dr Heather Wilson
Imaging Methodology Lead
Heather is the Lead of Imaging Methodology at the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre, and a Senior Research Fellow in the Neurodegeneration Imaging Group, at the University of Exeter.
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