Trailblazing Scientist Dr. Rachel Spooner Earns Prestigious Early Career Award Nomination at BioMag Conference
Rachel Spooner, PhD, the Director of the Translational Motor Imaging laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience (IHN), was nominated as a finalist for an Early Career Award from the International Conference of Biomagnetism (BIOMAG). The conference was held in Sydney, Australia from August 26-29th.
BIOMAG is one of the leading conferences in the field of biomagnetism, which involves measuring magnetic fields generated by the human body. Biomagnetism is the foundation of two primary neuroimaging systems at IHN: magnetoencephalography (MEG) and optically pumped magnetometer (OPM). The mission of the conference is to “delve into the multifaceted dimensions of biomagnetism…[focusing on] the intricate measurement of magnetic signals emanating from the human body, with special emphasis on brain activity and…advancements of sensor technology.”
What’s in a Name
The Early Career Research Award honors outstanding young researchers in the field. Out of numerous applicants, five finalists were chosen based on the scientific merit, quality and innovation, and open science contribution of their abstract, along with the motivation and competencies of the candidate and each were invited to present their research at the conference.
Dr. Spooner’s presentation was titled, “Cholinergic Modulation of Spontaneous Cortical Activity and its Alignment with Neurochemical Systems: A Pharmaco-MEG Study.” Her study utilized pharmacological challenges in healthy young adults to induce measurable changes in neurotransmission, to identify the role of the cholinergic system in spontaneous cortical activity (i.e., resting state activity) using MEG. This work was conducted during her postdoctoral training at the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology at the University Hospital Düsseldorf and in collaboration with Prof. Gerhard Jocham’s working group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany.
About the Recipient
Dr. Spooner joined IHN as a principal investigator following her postdoctoral fellowship in Germany, where she worked with experts in MEG signal processing and clinical applications. She received her graduate training from one of the most productive MEG laboratories in the United States. She has authored 42 publications, with 21 as the first/senior author.
Dr. Spooner is interested in studying the bioenergetic-neural-behavioral pathways underlying healthy and aberrant cognitive-motor function, with the ultimate goal of translating her findings to improve diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficacy for age- and disease-related disturbances in human behavior.