Dr Maria Ironside, DPhil General Information: Address: 22 Malvern Ave, Somerville MA 02144 Phone: +1 617-417-5065 Email: maironside@mclean.harvard.edu Research interests: Cognitive neuroscience of depression and anxiety, clinical research, brain stimulation and brain imaging techniques. Currently developing collaborations internationally, enabling initial findings to be tested widely, including in clinical populations. Education: 2012-2016: DPhil (PhD) Psychiatry, University of Oxford Thesis: An exploration of the efficacy of tdcs in treating depression and anxiety disorders through the alteration of perceptual bias, supervisor Prof. Catherine Harmer and Dr. Jacinta O Shea 2015: Limbic anatomy course, University College London (UCL). 2014: FMRIB graduate programme, University of Oxford. 2010-2012: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience (Distinction), UCL/Birkbeck, Dissertation: A double blind, placebo controlled exploration of the effect of repeated sessions of transcranial alternating current stimulation on tinnitus loudness and distress, supervisor Prof. Vincent Walsh. 2011: Mental Health First Aid, London. 2009 2010: MSc Cognitive & Decision Sciences (Distinction), UCL, Dissertation: Psychosomatic Hay Fever: The Nocebo Effect of Fake Flowers, supervisor Dr. Christopher Olivola. 2000 2004: B.A (Hons) Economic and Social Studies (II.1), Trinity College Dublin. See additional pages for details of completed projects Work experience: Sep 2016 present: Post-doctoral research fellow, Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital/ Harvard Medical School. Supervising PI: Diego Pizzagalli Currently leading a multi-modal neuroimaging investigation of the effect of stress on reward processing in currently and remitted depressed groups. Nov 2015: Visiting researcher, Dartmouth College. Apr - Aug 2015: MSc student supervisor, University of Oxford. Mar 2015: Visiting researcher, University of Western Australia. Jan - Jul 2014: Psychology tutor, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. Jul 2011: Student Research Assistant, Eyethink Lab, University College London. 2002-2003: Member of Student Economic Review, Trinity College Dublin.
Awards 2016: Travel Grant, Guarantors of the Brain 2014: Travel Grant, The Queen s College University of Oxford. 2012: Medical Research Council studentship. 2009: Gold award for stakeholder management, Transport for London. 2006: Ranked in top five worldwide in International CIMA Exams. 2000-2004: Trinity Access Programme scholarship, four year college support. Publications: Ironside, M., Sekyi-Djan M., Ansari., L., Harvey, C.J., O Shea, J., Bishop, S., Browning, M., Harmer, C.J. (in prep), Frontal cortex stimulation reduces amygdala response to threat under conditions of low perceptual load: An fmri investigation. Ironside, M., O Shea, J., Cowen, P.J., Harmer, C.J., Frontal cortex stimulation reduces vigilance to threat: Implications for the treatment of depression and anxiety. Biol Psychiatry, 2015. Bridgeman 1, M. (2004), China and its dollar peg: The true source of growth? Student Economic Review, 17, 171-183. Invited talks: Frontal cortex stimulation reduces vigilance to threat: Implications for the treatment of depression and anxiety. May 2016 Sep 2014 May 2014 Society of Biological Psychiatry, Atlanta Anxiety Targeting the Mechanisms of Menace, Southampton. 28 th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Paris. Poster presentations: Frontal cortex stimulation reduces vigilance to threat: Implications for the treatment of depression and anxiety. Jan 2015 Nov 2014 Jul 2014 May 2014 NYC Neuromodulation Conference, New York City. Society for Neuroscience, Washington DC. British Association of Psychopharmacology, Cambridge. Magstim Neuroenhancement Conference, Oxford. A double blind, placebo controlled exploration of the effect of repeated sessions of transcranial alternating current stimulation on tinnitus loudness and distress Mar 2013 May 2013 5 th International conference on non-invasive brain stimulation, Leipzig, Germany. Magstim Neuroenhancement Conference, Oxford. Other conferences attended: May 2011 and May 2012: Magstim/University of Oxford, TMS Summer School. Nov 2012: The Amygdala Meeting, UCL/ Wellcome Trust. 1 Bridgeman is maiden name
Skills: Research: Collaboration: Computer: Communication: Languages: Transcranial Current stimulation (TCS), cognitive behavioral data analysis, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fmri) analysis, ethics proposal preparation, structured clinical interview for DSM IV disorders, good clinical practice. Ongoing collaborations with research groups in Australia, Brazil and the United States. SPSS, FSL, MATLAB, e-prime, LaTex, presentation, bash scripting and Microsoft Office. Extensive experience communicating analysis and research to a range of audiences (presentation, writing and radio) and liaising with government and other stakeholders. Conversational Spanish, intermediate French. Additional work experience: 2012 - present: Technician (part-time), MB Productions Ltd. 2010-2012: Planning manager (part-time), Transport for London. Apr - Sep 2009: English teacher and volunteer, South America. 2004-2009: Graduate trainee/ Structuring manager, Transport for London.
Supplementary Information: Research Experience PhD projects (chronological order): An exploration of the efficacy of tdcs in treating depression and anxiety disorders through the alteration of perceptual bias, initial healthy volunteers study (Feb Jul 2013) Supervisors: Prof. Catherine Harmer, Dept. Psychiatry, University of Oxford; Dr. Jacinta O Shea, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford. This research project was carried out as the first in the programme of work for my DPhil studies. It was a double-blind, placebo controlled trial of the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tdcs) on emotional processing in healthy people. I was responsible for the initial concept, developing the design with supervisors, obtaining ethical approval, organising setup, recruitment and running of participants. I screened participants using the structured clinical interview for DSM IV disorders. I was responsible for delivering DC stimulation to a sample of 60 participants and administering a computerised test battery. I programmed some of the stimulus presentation and reaction time recording in e-prime. I also completed all analysis using SPSS. We found that tdcs reduced vigilance to threat in a dot-probe paradigm. These results were published in Biological Psychiatry in 2015 and the same paradigm is currently being tested in a clinical trial as part of a collaboration with the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil. An exploration of the effects of attentional bias modification training and tdcs on vigilance to threat and mood (Jan Jul 2014): Supervisors: Prof. Catherine Harmer and Dr. Michael Browning, Dept. Psychiatry, University of Oxford; Dr. Jacinta O Shea, Nuffield Dept. of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford. This research project was carried out as the second of my DPhil programme of work. It was a double blind, placebo controlled trial of the effects of tdcs and Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) training on vigilance to threat. I was responsible for collaborating with colleagues in the University of Western Australia to develop the design, obtaining ethical approval, organising setup, recruitment and running of participants. I was responsible for delivering DC stimulation and computerised training to a sample of 80 healthy participants and administering a computerised test battery and saliva collection for cortisol measurements. I adapted a guided worry task to a computerised form for this experiment, using e-prime. I also completed all analysis using SPSS. We did not find an interaction between tdcs and ABM on threat vigilance or cortisol levels. However, we found a reliable effect of the adapted guided worry task on reported anxiety levels, meaning that this version of the task could be used in further studies of anxiety.
An exploration of the effects of attentional bias modification training and tdcs on vigilance to threat and mood (Mar Apr 2015): Supervisors: Prof. Catherine Harmer and Dr. Michael Browning, Dept. Psychiatry, University of Oxford; Dr. Jacinta O Shea, Nuffield Dept. of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford. Collaborators: Dr. Patrick Clarke, Dept. Psychology, University of Western Australia. This project was carried out as part of a research visit to the University of Western Australia, funded by a collaborative grant with the University of Oxford. It was a placebo controlled trial of the effects of tdcs and Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) training on vigilance to threat in anxious participants, as a follow up investigation of differences between the results found separately in both research groups in a similar paradigm. I was responsible for collaborating with colleagues in the University of Western Australia to develop the design, organising setup, recruitment and running of participants. I was responsible for delivering DC stimulation and computerised training to a sample of 70 high trait anxious participants and administering a computerised test battery. Again, we did not find an interaction between tdcs and ABM on threat vigilance. These results are currently being written up as a multiple studies/centres null results paper.. An fmri exploration of the effects of tdcs on attentional control relevant to anxiety (Jan Sep 2015): Supervisors: Prof. Catherine Harmer and Dr. Michael Browning, Dept. Psychiatry, University of Oxford; Dr. Jacinta O Shea, Nuffield Dept. of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford. Collaborators: Dr. Laleh Ansari, Nuffield Dept. of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford; Dr. Sonia Bishop, University of California, Berkeley This project was carried out as the final study in the DPhil programme of work. It was a double blind, within subjects fmri investigation of the effect of tdcs on the neural activity underlying attentional control in anxious participants. I was responsible for initiating the collaboration necessary to develop the design, obtaining ethical approval, obtaining technical go-ahead from the scanning facility (including safety piloting), organising setup, recruitment and running of participants. I was responsible for delivering DC stimulation to a sample of 16 high trait anxious participants and acquiring fmri data while they carried out an attentional control task. I was responsible for analysing fmri data using FSL software and behavioural data using SPSS. During this time I also supervised an MSc student who worked on this study on a daily basis. We found an effect of tdcs on frontolimbic signal change to fearful distractor stimuli which I am currently writing up for publication.
Pre- PhD projects (reverse chronological order): A double blind, placebo controlled exploration of the effect of repeated sessions of transcranial alternating current stimulation on tinnitus loudness and distress. (2011/12) Supervisor: Prof. Vincent Walsh, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL This dissertation project was carried out as part of my MSc studies. It was a double-blind, placebo controlled trial of the effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tacs) on tinnitus. I was heavily involved in the final design, obtaining ethical approval and recruitment of patients. I was responsible for delivering alpha frequency AC stimulation to a sample of 20 participants with tinnitus, twice weekly over a six week period. I was also responsible for testing participants on tinnitus perception, discomfort and distress at regular intervals using standardised self-report questionnaires, VAS scores and diary review. I also completed all analysis using SPSS and wrote up the results for my MSc thesis. Mechanisms of joint perception: How social context influences gaze (2011) Supervisor: Daniel Richardson, Eyethink Lab, UCL I was involved in this project as part of a larger programme of research on joint perception. This involved the use of eye tracking technology to explain the differences between participants perception of a standardised set of images in lone conditions compared to social (joint) conditions. Specifically, we were trying to discover the reasons for an already replicated negative bias in the social (joint) condition. I worked with the lab team in developing ideas for new manipulations and helped run participants through the eyetracking system. We found a significant effect of social context on gaze which is in the process of being written up by the first author. Psychosomatic Hay Fever: The Nocebo Effect of Fake Flowers (2010) Supervisor: Christopher Olivola. Dept. Perceptual and Brain Sciences, UCL This dissertation project explored the nocebo effect of psychosomatic allergies. This involved trying to invoke hay fever symptoms using fake stimulus. I was responsible for the initial concept, obtaining ethical approval, driving the design (with supervisory support), organising setup, recruitment and running of participants. I programmed the stimulus presentation and reaction time recording in MATLAB (psychtoolbox). I also completed all analysis using SPSS and wrote up the results for my MSc thesis.