DrGregory Scott
Post-CCT Research Fellow (IPPRF)
Department of Brain Sciences - Faculty of Medicine
Orcid identifier0000-0001-8063-5871 (opens in a new tab)
- Post-CCT Research Fellow (IPPRF)Department of Brain Sciences - Faculty of Medicine
- Imperial College London, UK Dementia Research Institute, Care Research and Technology Centre, 86 Wood Lane, London, W12 0BZ, United Kingdom
BIO
Dr Gregory Scott is a post-CCT IPPRF Research Fellow and Neurologist at Imperial College London (Department of Brain Sciences and UK DRI Care Research & Technology).
Greg is unique as an academic neurologist in having a highly computational background: before medicine, he studied computer science, and his research interests are at the intersection of engineering, artificial intelligence, information theory and clinical neuroscience.
Greg aims to be a leading clinician scientist and expert in abnormal states of consciousness, conducting innovative research that addresses clinically important questions about how conscious states can be measured and manipulated. He is particularly interested in ‘transdiagnostic’ approaches that can lead to general-purpose measurement devices.
Students and prospective students
Dr Scott supervises PhD and Masters (MSc, MRes) students and is always keen to hear from potential students. If you are interested in a project, have an idea, or wanted to discuss options, please get in touch (gregory.scott99@imperial.ac.uk).
Projects recently completed or in the pipeline include:
Machine learning of EEG in patients with impaired consciousness
Age prediction from EEG
Novel measures of complexity applied to resting fMRI data
Understanding mechanisms of delirium in hospitalised patients
Automated brain image analysis and prediction of cognitive impairment
Computational modelling of whole-brain dynamics in patients with white matter lesions
Dr Scott is open to applications from prospective summer students.
Previous research
During his time as a Wellcome/GlaxoSmithKline Translational Medicine Training Fellow and as a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Lecturer, Greg applied theoretical principles from statistical physics to optogenetic brain imaging data in order to characterise fundamental properties of brain dynamics and conscious states. Using voltage imaging data in mice (here) he demonstrated how signatures of criticality - a special dynamical regime on the border between order and disorder - emerge in the cortex of mice recovering from anaesthesia. Later, he showed that critical cortical dynamics are associated with optimisation of information processing capabilities like information capacity and sharing (here).
With Prof Robin Carhart-Harris, Greg has more proposed the use of psychedelics as a possible treatment for patients with the most profound impairments of consciousness (here), based on contemporary theories of consciousness linking information theory to states of consciousness.
Dr Scott has also designed and conducted a complex experimental medicine study in traumatic brain injury patients, that combined clinical, cognitive, imaging and blood data to test a novel therapeutic strategy, studying the action of the antibiotic minocycline on chronic microglial activation (here). This provided unexpected, important evidence for the actions of this drug.
Dr Scott is also interested in the operation of the NHS and the nature of medical practice. He has published data-driven research on the problems with language and documentation in clinical medicine (here, here). More recently, he has used machine learning and natural language processing to critique the unfettered expansion of ‘organisational values’ across the health service (here).
Media and public engagement
Greg’s research in brain injury featured widely in the printed press, including the Times (here) and Daily Mail (here). His proposal to treat patients with impaired consciousness using psychedelics also received widespread attention (here).
Greg’s expertise meant he could provide a valuable neuroscientific perspective in the Channel 5 documentary “The Boy With No Brain”. He has also engaged the public in his research at the British Neuroscience Association’s Festival of Neuroscience and the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition.
Collaborations
Dr Scott is always keen to hear from interested researchers and possible collaborators, please get in touch by email.
Please note that Dr Scott cannot give specific clinical advice via this route.
Teaching
MRI biomarkers of traumatic brain injury (TBI), MSc Translational Neuroscience, 2020-current
Traumatic brain injury: spectrum of impairment with focus on disorders of consciousness (DoC), MSc Translational Neuroscience, 2019-current
Neuroimaging of neuroinflammation, MSc Translational Neuroscience, Imperial College London, 2017-current
Sleep and Consciousness, MBBS, Imperial College London, 2017-2019
Traumatic Brain Injury, 6th Year MBBS, Imperial College London, 2014-2017
Funding
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lectureship
Imperial College London EPSRC Neurotechnology CDT PhD Studentship
EPSRC Capital Award Emphasising Support for Early Career Researchers
Imperial Confidence in Concept (funded by funded by MRC Confidence in Concept, Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund, NIHR Imperial BRC, EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust)
Academy of Medical Sciences, Starter Grant for Clinical Lecturers
Wellcome Trust-GSK Translational Medicine Training (TMT) Fellowship
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Neurology Academic Clinical Fellowship
Prizes
Winner, Grant Writing Workshop, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London
Winner, Faculty of Medicine Student Innovation Awards
Winner, Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation Medical Apps Competition
Winner, Oxford Deanery Web Video Competition
Winner, Trainee Innovation in Education Awards, London Deanery Simulation and Technology enhanced Learning Initiative (STeLI)
Stevenson Prize, Imperial College School of Medicine, Imperial College London
Henry Johnstone Memorial Prize, Department of Computing, Imperial College London
Greg is unique as an academic neurologist in having a highly computational background: before medicine, he studied computer science, and his research interests are at the intersection of engineering, artificial intelligence, information theory and clinical neuroscience.
Greg aims to be a leading clinician scientist and expert in abnormal states of consciousness, conducting innovative research that addresses clinically important questions about how conscious states can be measured and manipulated. He is particularly interested in ‘transdiagnostic’ approaches that can lead to general-purpose measurement devices.
Students and prospective students
Dr Scott supervises PhD and Masters (MSc, MRes) students and is always keen to hear from potential students. If you are interested in a project, have an idea, or wanted to discuss options, please get in touch (gregory.scott99@imperial.ac.uk).
Projects recently completed or in the pipeline include:
Machine learning of EEG in patients with impaired consciousness
Age prediction from EEG
Novel measures of complexity applied to resting fMRI data
Understanding mechanisms of delirium in hospitalised patients
Automated brain image analysis and prediction of cognitive impairment
Computational modelling of whole-brain dynamics in patients with white matter lesions
Dr Scott is open to applications from prospective summer students.
Previous research
During his time as a Wellcome/GlaxoSmithKline Translational Medicine Training Fellow and as a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Lecturer, Greg applied theoretical principles from statistical physics to optogenetic brain imaging data in order to characterise fundamental properties of brain dynamics and conscious states. Using voltage imaging data in mice (here) he demonstrated how signatures of criticality - a special dynamical regime on the border between order and disorder - emerge in the cortex of mice recovering from anaesthesia. Later, he showed that critical cortical dynamics are associated with optimisation of information processing capabilities like information capacity and sharing (here).
With Prof Robin Carhart-Harris, Greg has more proposed the use of psychedelics as a possible treatment for patients with the most profound impairments of consciousness (here), based on contemporary theories of consciousness linking information theory to states of consciousness.
Dr Scott has also designed and conducted a complex experimental medicine study in traumatic brain injury patients, that combined clinical, cognitive, imaging and blood data to test a novel therapeutic strategy, studying the action of the antibiotic minocycline on chronic microglial activation (here). This provided unexpected, important evidence for the actions of this drug.
Dr Scott is also interested in the operation of the NHS and the nature of medical practice. He has published data-driven research on the problems with language and documentation in clinical medicine (here, here). More recently, he has used machine learning and natural language processing to critique the unfettered expansion of ‘organisational values’ across the health service (here).
Media and public engagement
Greg’s research in brain injury featured widely in the printed press, including the Times (here) and Daily Mail (here). His proposal to treat patients with impaired consciousness using psychedelics also received widespread attention (here).
Greg’s expertise meant he could provide a valuable neuroscientific perspective in the Channel 5 documentary “The Boy With No Brain”. He has also engaged the public in his research at the British Neuroscience Association’s Festival of Neuroscience and the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition.
Collaborations
Dr Scott is always keen to hear from interested researchers and possible collaborators, please get in touch by email.
Please note that Dr Scott cannot give specific clinical advice via this route.
Teaching
MRI biomarkers of traumatic brain injury (TBI), MSc Translational Neuroscience, 2020-current
Traumatic brain injury: spectrum of impairment with focus on disorders of consciousness (DoC), MSc Translational Neuroscience, 2019-current
Neuroimaging of neuroinflammation, MSc Translational Neuroscience, Imperial College London, 2017-current
Sleep and Consciousness, MBBS, Imperial College London, 2017-2019
Traumatic Brain Injury, 6th Year MBBS, Imperial College London, 2014-2017
Funding
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lectureship
Imperial College London EPSRC Neurotechnology CDT PhD Studentship
EPSRC Capital Award Emphasising Support for Early Career Researchers
Imperial Confidence in Concept (funded by funded by MRC Confidence in Concept, Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund, NIHR Imperial BRC, EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust)
Academy of Medical Sciences, Starter Grant for Clinical Lecturers
Wellcome Trust-GSK Translational Medicine Training (TMT) Fellowship
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Neurology Academic Clinical Fellowship
Prizes
Winner, Grant Writing Workshop, Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London
Winner, Faculty of Medicine Student Innovation Awards
Winner, Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation Medical Apps Competition
Winner, Oxford Deanery Web Video Competition
Winner, Trainee Innovation in Education Awards, London Deanery Simulation and Technology enhanced Learning Initiative (STeLI)
Stevenson Prize, Imperial College School of Medicine, Imperial College London
Henry Johnstone Memorial Prize, Department of Computing, Imperial College London
FACULTY
- Faculty of Medicine
POSITION NAME
- Post-CCT Research Fellow (IPPRF)