Dr Ash Venkataraman  

NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer and Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry

About me

Dr Ash Venkataraman is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at Kings College London and Honorary Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist in the Brain Health Clinic at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. 

He has published in a range of academic journals such as Science Translational Medicine, Molecular Psychiatry and Alzheimer's Research and Therapy, and has been covered in multiple media outlets.

His current work uses artificial intelligence/ machine learning to develop and translate automated brain image analysis tools into clinic for better diagnosis, prognosis and stratification of patients. He has built SLaM Image Bank as a platform for this. His research interests are in neuroimaging, ultra-low-field MRI, biomarkers, neuropsychopharmacology and the mechanisms of dementia. 

His research to date has used PET and MR Imaging to understand the causes of Alzheimer’s, particularly looking at amyloid, cell stress, mitochondria, synapses and astrocytes and the links with the clinical expression of the disease.

Before this he was Alzheimer's Society Clinical Research Training Fellow at the Hammersmith Hospital and UKDRI at Imperial College London. His PhD was in PET and MRI Imaging of the Cellular Phase of Alzheimer's Disease. He was awarded the Advances in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Therapies AD/PD Junior Faculty Award for this work. Prior to this he was an Alzheimer's Research UK Clinical Fellow at the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit at Imperial College London.

He is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Before this he was an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow, Academic Foundation Programme Doctor, and graduated from University College London Medical School.

Media

Recent Publications

Váša F, Bennallick C, Bourke NJ, Padormo F, Baljer L, Briski U, Cawley P, Arichi T, Wood TC, Lythgoe DJ, Dell’Acqua F, Booth TC, Venkataraman AV, Ljungberg E, Deoni SCL, Moran RJ, Leech R, Williams SCR. Ultra-low-field brain MRI morphometry: test-retest reliability and correspondence to high-field MRI. bioRxiv 2024.08.14.607942



Venkataraman AV, Kandangwa P, Lemmen R, Savla R, Beigi M, Hammond D, Sauer J, Velayudhan L, Ballard C, Brem AK, Kalafatis C, Aarsland D. The SLaM Brain Health Clinic: a remote biomarker enhanced memory clinic for patients with mild cognitive impairment within an NHS mental health trust. medRxiv 2024.04.23.24303268 and BJPsychOpen (in press)



Sahin Z, Pisani S, Nderitu P, Venkataraman AV, Guu T-W, Aarsland D, Jackson T, ffytche D. Using Retinal diagnostics as a Biomarker for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Protocol for a systematic review. medRxiv 2024.05.27.24306765



Laurell AAS*, Venkataraman AV*, Schmidt T, Montagnese M, Mueller C, Stewart R, Lewis J, Mundell C, Isaacs JD, Krishnan MS, Barber R, Rittman T,  Underwood BR. Estimating Demand for Potential Disease modifying Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease in the UK. BJPsych 2024 (*joint first) 



Venkataraman, A. V., Marshall, C. & Rittman, T. Automated brain image analysis in dementia using artificial intelligence: a roadmap for the development of clinical tools. Available at: osf.io/myuq7. OSF Preprint. 2023



Venkataraman AV, Mansur A, Rizzo G, Bishop C, Lewis Y, Kocagoncu E, Lingford-Hughes A, Huiban M, Passchier J, Rowe JB, Tsukada H, Brooks DJ, Martarello L, Comley RA, Chen L, Schwarz AJ, Hargreaves R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM. Widespread cell stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with early Alzheimer’s Disease, Science Translational Medicine, 2022


 

Venkataraman AV, Bishop C, Mansur A, Rizzo G, Lewis Y, Kocagoncu E, Lingford-Hughes A, Huiban M, Passchier J, Rowe JB, Tsukada H, Brooks DJ, Martarello L, Comley RA, Chen L, Schwarz AJ, Hargreaves R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM. Imaging synaptic microstructure and synaptic loss in vivo in early Alzheimer’s Disease. medRxiv 2021.11.23.21266746


 

Venkataraman AV, Bai W, Whittington A, Myers JF,  Rabiner EA, Lingford-Hughes A, Matthews PM, for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Boosting the diagnostic power of amyloid-β PET using a data driven spatial model for decision support. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, 2021

 


Livingston, N.R, Calsolaro, V, Hinz, R, Gentleman, S,. Tyacke RJ, Myers JF,  Venkataraman AV,  Perneczky R,  Gunn R,  Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Murphy PM, Wren P, Nutt, D1., Matthews, PM, Edison, P. Relationship between astrocyte reactivity, using novel 11C-BU99008 PET, and glucose metabolism, grey matter volume and amyloid load in cognitively impaired individuals, Molecular Psychiatry, 2022


 

Venkataraman AV, Mansur A, Rizzo G, Bishop C, Lewis Y, Kocagoncu E, Lingford-Hughes A, Huiban M, Passchier J, Rowe JB, Tsukada H, Brooks DJ, Martarello L, Comley RA, Chen L, Schwarz AJ, Hargreaves R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM. Widespread cell stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in early Alzheimer’s Disease, medRxiv 2021.08.11.21261851


 

Livingston, N.R, Calsolaro, V, Hinz, R, Gentleman, S,. Tyacke RJ, Myers JF,  Venkataraman AV,  Perneczky R,  Gunn R,  Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Murphy PM, Wren P, Nutt, D1., Matthews, PM, Edison, P. Relationship between astrocyte reactivity, using novel 11C-BU99008 PET, and glucose metabolism, grey matter volume and amyloid load in cognitively impaired individuals. medRxiv 2021.08.10.21261690


 

Venkataraman AV, PET Imaging of the cellular phase of Alzheimer’s Disease. PhD Thesis, Imperial College London, 2021


 

Calsolaro, V, Matthews, PM, Donat, CK, Livingston, NR, Daniela Femminella, G, Guedes, S, Myers, J, Fan, Z, Tyacke, RJ, Venkataraman, A, Perneczky, R, Gunn, RN, Rabiner, EA, Gentleman, S, Parker, CA, Murphy, P, Wren, P, Hinz, R, Sastre, M, Nutt, DJ & Edison, P 2021, Astrocyte reactivity with late onset cognitive impairment assessed in vivo using 11C-BU99008 PET and its relationship with amyloid load, Molecular Psychiatry, 2021.


 

P Young, M Estarellas, E Coomans, M Srikrishna, H Beaumont, M Betts, A Maass, AV Venkataraman, R Lissaman, D Jiménez, E McGlinchey, D Berron, A O’Connor, N Fox, J Pereira, W Jagust, SF Carter, R Paterson, M Schöll. Imaging Biomarkers in Neurodegeneration: Current and Future Practices. Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy, 2020


 

Suzuki H, Venkataraman AV, Bai W, Guitton F, Guo Y, Matthews PM and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Identifying brain regions vulnerable to effects of aging and modifiable risk factors for dementia in a large population study. JAMA Network Open, 2020;2(12)



Venkataraman, A, Turton, S, Lingford-Hughes, A. Drug use and associated neuropsychiatric conditions. Oxford Textbook of Neuropsychiatry, 2020 (Book Chapter)



A Venkataraman, A. Mansur, Y. Lewis, E. Kocagoncu, A. Lingford-Hughes, M. Huiban, J. Passchier, J.B. Rowe, H. Tsukada, D. Brooks, R.N. Gunn, P.M. Matthews, EA. Rabiner, MINDMAPS Consortium. Quantifying mitochondrial and synaptic function in Alzheimer’s Disease using [18F]BCPP-EF, [11C]SA4503 and [11C]UCB-J PET Imaging. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2019, 15(7S) 740-741


 

AV Venkataraman, A. Mansur, Y. Lewis, E. Kocagoncu, A. Lingford-Hughes, M. Huiban, J. Passchier, J.B. Rowe, H. Tsukada, D. Brooks, R.N. Gunn, P.M. Matthews, EA. Rabiner, MINDMAPS Consortium. Evaluation of mitochondrial and synaptic function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD): a [18F]BCPP-EF, [11C]SA4503 and [11C]UCB-J PET study. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 2019, 39(1S) 121-122


 

Calsolaro V, Fan Z, Myers JFM, Tyacke RJ, Venkataraman A, Femminella GD, Perneczky R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Gentleman S, Parker CA, Murphy PS, Wren PB, Matthews PM, Nutt DJ, Edison P. Evaluation of Novel Astrocyte 11C-BU99008 PET in Alzheimer’s Disease: a Dementia Platform UK experimental medicine study.  Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2018, 14(7) 842–843. 


 

Fan Z, Calsolaro V, Mayers J, Tyacke R, Venkataraman A, Femminella G Perneczky R, Gunn RN, Rabiner EA, Matthews PM, Nutt DJ, Edison P.  Relationship between astrocyte activations using 11C-BU99008, glucose metabolism and amyloid in Alzheimer’s Disease: a Dementia Platform UK experimental medicine study. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2018, 14(7) 1640. 


 

Venkataraman AV, Keat N, Turton S, Myers JFM, Tyacke RJ, Mick I, Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Gunn RN, & Nutt DJ. First Evaluation of PET-Based Human Biodistribution and Radiation Dosimetry of 11C-BU99008, a Tracer for Imaging Astrocytes/ Imidazoline2 Binding Site. EJNMMI Research, 2018, 8:171



Tyacke RJ, Myers JFM,  Venkataraman A, Turton, S, Mick I, Hill S, Chong H, Mos S, Passchier J, Rabiner EA, Parker CA, Gunn RN, & Nutt DJ. Evaluation of 11C-BU99008, a PET Ligand for the Imidazoline2 Binding Site in Human Brain, Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2018



Venkataraman AV, Perry RJ, Malhotra PA. Young Onset Dementia. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology, Elsevier, 2018, 1-7


 

Venkataraman A, Nutt DJ, A tale of two moralities: politicians, doctors, substance use and lobbying. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 2018


 

Durant CF, Paterson LM, Turton S, Wilson SJ, Myers JFM, Muthukumaraswamy, Venkataraman A, Mick I, Paterson S, Jones T, Nahar LK, Cordero RE, Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A. Using baclofen to explore GABA-B receptor function in alcohol dependence: insights from pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic measures. Frontiers Psychiatry, 2018


Turton S, Myers J, Mick I, Colasanti A, Venkataraman A, Durant C, Waldman DA, Parkin MC, Dawes G, Rabiner EA, Gunn RN, Lightman SL, Nutt DJ, Lingford-Hughes A Blunted Endogenous Opioid Release Following an Oral Dexamphetamine Challenge in Abstinent Alcohol Dependent Individuals. Molecular Psychiatry, 2018



Venkataraman, A., Kalk N., Sewell, G., Ritchie, CW., Lingford-Hughes, A. Alcohol and Alzheimer’s Disease - does alcohol dependence contribute to beta-amyloid deposition, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease? Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2017, 52(2), 151–158



Lingford-Hughes, A , Turton, S, Venkataraman, A, Alcohol and the Brain, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2017, (Peer-reviewed CPD Module)


 

Edison, P., Mayers, J., Calsolaro, V., Fan, Z., Turton, S., Venkataraman, A., Femminella, GD., Perneczky, R., Gunn, R.N., Rabiner, E.A., Matthews, P.M., Tyacke, R., Nutt, D. Dementia Platform UK Experimental Medicine: Human in vivo astroglial activation in early Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2017,13(7),1073- 1074



Research

Word cloud based on titles of publications to date

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