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James Roberts

Group Leader

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

Dr James Roberts leads the Brain Modelling Group at QIMR Berghofer. His research lies broadly in the field of computational neuroscience, at the intersection of physics, mathematics, neuroscience, and neurology. Dr Roberts employs a multidisciplinary approach that combines computational and analytical methods with clinical electrophysiological and neuroimaging data, to tackle complex problems in neuroscience and brain health.

Also branched into COVID-19 modelling đŸ˜·.

Publications

Preprints:

  1. L. Webb, A. J. K. Phillips, J. A. Roberts. Mapping the physiological changes in sleep regulation across infancy and young childhood. bioRxiv 2023.11.16.567480

Articles:

  1. K. K. Iyer, J. A. Roberts, M. Waak, S. J. Vogrin, A. Kevat, J. Chawla, L. M. Haataja, L. Lauronen, S. Vanhatalo, N. J. Stevenson (2024). A growth chart of brain function from infancy to adolescence based on EEG. eBioMedicine 102:105061

  2. S. Dutta, K. K. Iyer, S. Vanhatalo, M. Breakspear, J. A. Roberts (2023). Mechanisms underlying pathological cortical bursts during metabolic depletion. Nature Communications 14:4792

  3. A. M. Plomgaard, N. Stevenson, J. A. Roberts, T. H. Petersen, S. Vanhatalo, G. Greisen, and the SafeBoosC-II study group (2024). Early EEG-burst sharpness and 2-year disability in extremely preterm infants. Pediatric Research 95:193-199

  4. S. Naze, L. J. Hearne, J. A. Roberts, P. Sanz-Leon, B. Burgher, C. Hall, S. Sonkusare, Z. Nott, L. Marcus, E. Savage, C. Robinson, Y. E. Tian, A. Zalesky, M. Breakspear, L. Cocchi (2023). Mechanisms of imbalanced frontostriatal functional connectivity in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Brain 146:1322–1327

  5. K. K. Iyer, U. Leitner, V. Giordano, J. A. Roberts, S. Vanhatalo, K. Klebermass-Schrehof, N. J. Stevenson (2023). Bedside tracking of functional autonomic age in preterm infants. Pediatric Research 94:206-212

  6. J. C. Pang, J. K. Rilling, J. A. Roberts*, M. P. van den Heuvel*, L. Cocchi* (2022). Evolutionary shaping of human brain dynamics. eLife 11:e80627
    (* authors jointly supervised)

  7. P. Sanz-Leon, L. H. W. Hamilton, S. J. Raison, A. J. X. Pan, N. J. Stevenson, R. M. Stuart, R. G. Abeysuriya, C. C. Kerr, S. B. Lambert, J. A. Roberts (2022). Modelling herd immunity requirements in Queensland: impact of vaccination effectiveness, hesitancy, and variants of SARS-CoV-2. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 380:20210311

  8. P. Sanz-Leon, N. J. Stevenson, R. M. Stuart, R. G. Abeysuriya, J. C. Pang, S. B. Lambert, C. C. Kerr, J. A. Roberts (2022). Risk of sustained SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Queensland, Australia. Scientific Reports 12:6309.

  9. L. Webb, M. Kaupilla, J. A. Roberts, S. Vanhatalo, and N. J. Stevenson (2021). Automated detection of artefacts in neonatal EEG with residual neural networks. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 208:106194.

  10. J. C. Pang, L. L. Gollo, and J. A. Roberts (2021). Stochastic synchronization of dynamics on the human connectome. NeuroImage 229:117738.

  11. L. J. Hearne, H.-Y. Lin, P. Sanz-Leon, W.-Y. I. Tseng, S. S.-F. Gau, J. A. Roberts, and L. Cocchi (2021). ADHD symptoms map onto noise-driven structure-function decoupling between hub and peripheral brain regions. Molecular Psychiatry 26:4036-4045.

  12. A. M. Puckett, M. M. Schira, Z. J. Isherwood, J. D. Victor, J. A. Roberts, and M. Breakspear (2020). Manipulating the structure of natural scenes using wavelets to study the functional architecture of perceptual hierarchies in the brain. NeuroImage 221:117173.

  13. N. J. Stevenson, M.-L. Tataranno, A. Kaminska, E. Pavlidis, R. R. Clancy, E. Griesmaier, J. A. Roberts, K. Klebermass-Schrehof, and S. Vanhatalo (2020). Reliability and accuracy of EEG interpretation for estimating age in preterm infants. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 7:1564-1573.

  14. N. J. Stevenson, L. Oberdorfer, M.-L. Tataranno, M. Breakspear, P. B. Colditz, L. S. de Vries, M. J. N. L. Benders, K. Klebermass-Schrehof, S. Vanhatalo, and J. A. Roberts (2020). Automated cot-side tracking of functional brain age in preterm infants. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 7:891-902.

  15. A. Tokariev, J. A. Roberts, A. Zalesky, X. Zhao, S. Vanhatalo, M. Breakspear, and L. Cocchi (2019). Large-scale brain modes reorganize between infant sleep states and carry prognostic information for preterms. Nature Communications 10:2619.

  16. J. A. Roberts, L. L. Gollo, R. Abeysuriya, G. Roberts, P. B. Mitchell, M. W. Woolrich, and M. Breakspear (2019). Metastable brain waves. Nature Communications 10:1056.

  17. H.-Y. Lin, A. Perry, L. Cocchi, J. A. Roberts, W.-Y. I. Tseng, M. Breakspear, and S. S.-F. Gau (2019). Development of frontoparietal connectivity predicts longitudinal symptom changes in young people with autism spectrum disorder. Translational Psychiatry 9:86.

  18. L. L. Gollo, J. A. Roberts, V. L. Cropley, M. A. Di Biase, C. Pantelis, A. Zalesky, and M. Breakspear (2018). Fragility and volatility of structural hubs in the human connectome. Nature Neuroscience 21:1107-1116.

  19. J. A. Roberts and M. Breakspear (2018). Synaptic assays: using biophysical models to infer neuronal dysfunction from non-invasive EEG. Brain 141:1583 (commentary on this).

  20. J. A. Roberts, K. J. Friston, and M. Breakspear (2017). Clinical applications of stochastic dynamic models of the brain, Part I: A primer. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging 2:216-224.

  21. J. A. Roberts, K. J. Friston, and M. Breakspear (2017). Clinical applications of stochastic dynamic models of the brain, Part II: A review. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging 2:225-234.

  22. P. Mukhopadhyay, J. A. Roberts, and G. J. Walker (2017). Further assessment of exome wide UVR footprints in melanoma and their possible relevance. Molecular Carcinogenesis 56:1673-1679.

  23. J. J. Chapman, J. A. Roberts, V. T. Nguyen, and M. Breakspear (2017). Quantification of free-living activity patterns using accelerometry in adults with mental illness. Scientific Reports 7:43174.

  24. L. L. Gollo, J. A. Roberts, and L. Cocchi (2017). Mapping how local perturbations influence systems-level brain dynamics. NeuroImage 160:97-112.

  25. J. A. Roberts, A. Perry, G. Roberts, P. B. Mitchell, and M. Breakspear (2017). Consistency-based thresholding of the human connectome. NeuroImage 145:118-129.

  26. L. L. Gollo, M. Copelli, and J. A. Roberts (2016). Diversity improves performance in excitable networks. PeerJ 4:e1912.

  27. J. A. Roberts, A. Perry, A. R. Lord, G. Roberts, P. B. Mitchell, R. E. Smith, F. Calamante, and M. Breakspear (2016). The contribution of geometry to the human connectome. NeuroImage 124:379-393.

  28. K. K. Iyer, J. A. Roberts, L. Hellström-Westas, S. Wikström, I. Hansen-Pupp, D. Ley, M. Breakspear, and S. Vanhatalo (2015). Early detection of preterm intraventricular hemorrhage from clinical electroencephalography. Critical Care Medicine 43:2219-2227.

  29. K. K. Iyer, J. A. Roberts, L. Hellström-Westas, S. Wikström, I. Hansen-Pupp, D. Ley, S. Vanhatalo, and M. Breakspear (2015). Cortical burst dynamics predict clinical outcome early in extremely preterm infants. Brain 138:2206-2218.

  30. J. A. Roberts, T. W. Boonstra, and M. Breakspear (2015). The heavy tail of the human brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 31:164-172.

  31. J. A. Roberts, K. K. Iyer, S. Vanhatalo, and M. Breakspear (2014). Critical role for resource constraints in neural models. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 8:154.

  32. J. A. Roberts, K. K. Iyer, S. Finnigan, S. Vanhatalo, and M. Breakspear (2014). Scale-free bursting in human cortex following hypoxia at birth. Journal of Neuroscience 34:6557-6572.

  33. K. K. Iyer, J. A. Roberts, M. MetsÀranta, S. Finnigan, M. Breakspear, S. Vanhatalo (2014). Novel features of early burst suppression predict outcome after birth asphyxia. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 1:209-214.

  34. J. A. Roberts, G. Wallis, and M. Breakspear (2013). Fixational eye movements during viewing of dynamic natural scenes. Frontiers in Psychology 4:797.

  35. M. J. Aburn, C. A. Holmes, J. A. Roberts, T. W. Boonstra, and M. Breakspear (2012). Critical fluctuations in cortical models near instability. Frontiers in Physiology 3:331.

  36. F. Freyer, J. A. Roberts, P. Ritter, and M. Breakspear (2012). A canonical model of multistability and scale-invariance in biological systems. PLoS Computational Biology 8:e1002634.

  37. J. A. Roberts and P. A. Robinson (2012). Quantitative theory of driven nonlinear brain dynamics. NeuroImage 62:1947-1955.

  38. J. A. Roberts and P. A. Robinson (2012). Corticothalamic dynamics: Structure of parameter space, spectra, instabilities, and reduced model. Physical Review E 85:011910.

  39. P. A. Robinson, A. J. K. Phillips, B. D. Fulcher, M. Puckeridge, J. A. Roberts (2011). Quantitative modelling of sleep dynamics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 369:3840-3854.

  40. F. Freyer, J. A. Roberts, R. Becker, P. A. Robinson, P. Ritter, and M. Breakspear (2011). Biophysical mechanisms of multistability in resting-state cortical rhythms. Journal of Neuroscience 31:6353-6361.

  41. J. W. Kim, J. A. Roberts, and P. A. Robinson (2009). Dynamics of epileptic seizures: Evolution, spreading, and suppression. Journal of Theoretical Biology 257:527-532.

  42. J. A. Roberts and P. A. Robinson (2008). Modeling distributed axonal delays in mean-field brain dynamics. Physical Review E 78:051901.

  43. J. A. Roberts and P. A. Robinson (2008). Modeling absence seizure dynamics: Implications for basic mechanisms and measurement of thalamocortical and corticothalamic latencies. Journal of Theoretical Biology 253:189-201.

  44. A. K. I. Chiang, C. J. Rennie, P. A. Robinson, J. A. Roberts, M. K. Rigozzi, R.W. Whitehouse, R. J. Hamilton, and E. Gordon (2008). Automated characterization of multiple alpha peaks in multi-site electroencephalograms. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 168:396-411.

  45. Yu. Tyshetskiy, J. A. Roberts, P. A. Robinson, I. H. Cairns, and B. Li (2007). Spatiotemporal correlation functions in beam-driven plasmas with fluctuations. Physics of Plasmas 14:122111.

  46. M. Breakspear, J. A. Roberts, J. R. Terry, S. Rodrigues, N. Mahant, and P. A. Robinson (2006). A unifying explanation of primary generalized seizures through nonlinear brain modeling and bifurcation analysis. Cerebral Cortex 16:1296-1313.

Book chapters:

  1. P. A. Robinson, S. Postnova, R. G. Abeysuriya, J. W. Kim, J. A. Roberts, L. McKenzie-Sell, A. Karanjai, C. C. Kerr, F. Fung, R. Anderson, M. J. Breakspear, P. M. Drysdale, B. D. Fulcher, A. J. K. Phillips, C. J. Rennie, and G. Yin (2015). A Multiscale “Working Brain” Model. In “Validating Neuro-Computational Models of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders”, B. S. Bhattacharya and F. N. Chowdhury, eds. New York: Springer. Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience vol. 14, ch. 5, pp. 107-140.

  2. P. A. Robinson, A. J. K. Phillips, B. D. Fulcher, M. Puckeridge, J. A. Roberts, and C. J. Rennie (2011). Quantitative modeling of sleep dynamics. In “Sleep and Anesthesia: Neural Correlates in Theory and Experiment”, A. Hutt, ed. New York: Springer. Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience vol. 15, ch. 3, pp. 45-68.

  3. P. A. Robinson, C. J. Rennie, A. J. K. Phillips, J. W. Kim, and J. A. Roberts (2010). Phase transitions in physiologically-based multiscale mean-field brain models. In “Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain”, D. A. Steyn-Ross and M. Steyn-Ross, eds. New York: Springer. Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience vol. 4, ch. 8, pp. 179-201.

  4. P. A. Robinson, M. Breakspear, and J. A. Roberts (2008). Unified modeling and analysis of primary generalized seizures. In “Computational Neuroscience in Epilepsy”, I. Soltesz and K. Staley, eds. San Diego: Academic Press.

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