Advancing Neuroimaging: Lauren Gascoyne on the Promise of OPM-MEG

In this two-part interview, we spoke with Dr Lauren Gascoyne, Technical Specialist at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre (SPMIC) at the University of Nottingham. Her work heavily involves developing and using cutting edge, non-invasive neuroimaging technologies including OPM-MEG (Optically Pumped Magnetometer Magnetoencephalography). A novel technique that measures the brain’s magnetic fields to infer neural activity via a wearable system (Brookes et al., 2022). She explained how the technique works, how it differs from traditional MEG, and other neuroimaging methods, and what it has been like to help develop a technology that is opening new possibilities for studying the brain in more naturalistic settings. Lauren also reflected on her unusual career path, the challenges of working in a highly technical field, and the importance of communicating sex and gender research carefully and accurately in neuroimaging. 

How OPM-MEG is changing neuroimaging

So, Lauren, you’re using OPM-MEG at Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, can you tell us about the OPM-MEG neuroimaging technique and what it involves?

“I've been at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre for just over 10 years as a postdoc. The imaging centre itself is where MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) was invented by Sir Peter Mansfield, which is quite cool, but I've always been involved in the MEG side. We've been developing our own version of MEG called OPM-MEG which, unlike conventional SQUID-MEG (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices), doesn't need Helium. Instead, it runs at room temperature, and the sensors sit inside a solid helmet that detects the brain’s magnetic fields, which you wear inside a magnetically shielded room (MSR). The room is required to reduce interference from magnetic fields within the environment. For example, you could get some external interference (noise) if you are at an OPM-MEG site near a train station or lift, and different environments can have different background noise fields. While the shielded room adds to the cost, OPM-MEG is ultimately cheaper than SQUID-MEG. We are always working on reducing the room cost by seeing how thin we can make the layers of copper and metal that make up the magnetically shielded walls while still getting a reasonable signal that's usable.”

What does MEG tell us compared to other neuroimaging techniques like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) or EEG (Electroencephalogram)?

"MRI and MEG are very different. In MRI you're essentially putting someone inside a giant magnet and then generating an image. The benefit of MRI is that it's got very good spatial resolution (Op De Beeck & Nakatani, 2025). However, when you're looking at brain function, particularly in functional MRI (fMRI), you often look at the BOLD (Blood Oxygen Dependent Level) response, which is an indirect measure of neural activity because you're assuming that where the blood goes is where the neural activity is happening. Also, it can take around 8 seconds for the blood to travel, and be detected, in the area that you think activity is happening. So, fMRI doesn't really give you very good temporal resolution of what is changing in the neurons at any moment. However, temporal resolution is what EEG can measure, sub-millisecond changes in neural firing across the brain. One of the problems with EEG is that the electrical signal being measured becomes distorted as it leaves the skull and passes through the tissues, meaning it's very difficult to pinpoint exactly where that signal is coming from in the brain (Luck, 2014).

MEG is a happy medium between MRI and EEG, because the magnetic field isn't distorted by the skull. So, wherever your sensors are placed, you can do the mathematical calculations that you need to be able to infer where you think the activity is coming from down to a 5mm region, and then also look at neuronal firing levels. This means that you can separate the activity into different frequency bands and look at how the amplitude and power of that frequency changes at the millisecond level. This allows you to look at networks across the brain, which is another big feature. In order to verify these methods, we've done work showing that the networks we see in MEG are the same as the well-established networks that people have measured in fMRI. They're complementary tools, I would say.”

To find out more information regarding the sensors Lauren discussed click here.

How does this OPM-MEG work link to your current career role as a Technical Specialist?

“At the moment I’m working two roles; 2 days a week I'm working as a Technical Specialist, managing the OPM-MEG lab and helping work up a suitable protocol for people that want to use the scanning system. We have a lot of people interested in using the technology because it has some benefits over the old-style MEG scanners, in that it's much easier to scan people with movement disorders because you can move around while you're wearing the helmet. Because we can change where the sensors on the helmet are placed, it’s also a more sensitive tool for scanning children. The sensors can be placed anywhere on the body, so we've also been doing foetal scanning and scanning muscles and nerves. It’s very flexible. Even though my job title now is ‘Technical Specialist’, I share the job with a physicist who deals with a lot of the technical details.

During the other 2 days, I’ve started working on a research based project. We are using OPM-MEG to scan people with antisocial personality disorder to see if we can identify areas of empathy in the brain, which is quite interesting. It's never been done before, so we don't really know what’s possible.”

A lot of this sounds very cutting edge and the neuroimaging technique of OPM-MEG sounds really exciting. Has it been quite a long time in the works?

“Yeah, it has! I remember when I started at Nottingham, on my first day, a PhD student, Elena Boto, gave a talk about some simulations that she'd run that could be like an OPM-MEG system, and that's where it all started from. So, from that first talk I've seen it be built up and taken stage by stage into what it is now, where we've got two labs, and two systems running. A spin out company called Cerca Magnetics has also since been developed, that sells these systems to university and hospital sites across the world. Ultimately, the aim is to get the system into hospitals and clinically approved, but there are a lot of technical problems that need to be solved. The shielded room that the system works in is very, very heavy. So, we're working on ways to reduce the weight of the room or make it more portable and suitable for a hospital setting.”

What's something that you're really excited for OPM-MEG to be used for?

“Well, one thing that we're using the system for now, which is very novel and exciting, is housing our system in a backpack that people can wear. That means we can measure neuronal activity while people are doing more naturalistic tasks, which hasn’t really been possible before. We've published a paper on multiple sclerosis (MS) using this technique, measuring how the brain is different in patients compared to controls when doing a task standing up versus sitting down (Sanders et al., 2025). We’re also running a study where we're asking participants with Parkinson’s disease to make turns while wearing the backpack and the helmet, which is something people with Parkinson’s tend to have difficulty with. This is allowing us to see not only what's happening in the brain during the turn, but also what's happening in the preparation period before they make the turn. We are asking, is there anything stopping that movement from occurring more easily?

What’s exciting is that the system has so many applications. Some researchers are scanning people that have been in blast zones, and others are looking at concussions within sports, asking people to do balance tasks to see what's actually happening in the brain. These uses do come with some technical challenges as well, because the signals we're trying to measure are extremely small. Interference can be caused by people moving their heads, so we've had to come up with ways to analyse and process the signal data to reduce as much interference as possible.”

From Psychologist to Technical Specialist

What has your career path to this point looked like? How have you come to be a Technical Specialist?

“I did my first degree at Ashton University, in Psychology and Business, because I liked Psychology and I thought the Business aspect would be useful. I'm pleased that I did experience two different subjects, and with Business I got to go on a placement to the South of France for a year, which I loved. But, overall, I found the business side was not that interesting to me. Once I'd finished that, I moved to Plymouth because my partner was down there, and I worked as a research assistant for two years, doing qualitative research. I was conducting interviews and focus groups with allied medical profession students to evaluate tools that they were using to take on placements with them. I started to miss the quantitative side of things a bit, so I got back in touch with my undergraduate degree tutor to ask about PhD opportunities. She invited me up to Birmingham to have a look at their MEG work, and I had no idea what MEG was at this point. I was interested in music and auditory perception, and she said to come and use the MEG for a PhD!

I went up to Aston and started using the MEG system to scan children with epilepsy from the Birmingham Children's Hospital. We were interested in auditory perception of children that had temporal lobe epilepsy. It was a neurodevelopmental centre, so we were also doing projects with children with dyslexia and ADHD, as well as other conditions. I really, really enjoyed it.

When I finished my PhD, I worked there as a postdoc for a little bit and then got my job here at Nottingham, which was to come over for a 5 year project using the MEG scanner to look at schizophrenia.”

You’ve stayed with MEG, I imagine, because you're a big fan of MEG, as I think we all should be after hearing from you. But what parts of your career have you particularly enjoyed?

“The thing that I enjoy a lot is the actual scanning process. When we book people in to come for a scan, I really enjoy the interaction. Helping them to understand what it is we want them to do, looking after them. I find that very fulfilling.

I enjoy working with the medical students, over at the Queens Medical Centre (QMC) hospital, who are learning about MEG from scratch. But, it can be hard to find a balance where you are not overwhelming people with too much technical detail.”

Can you reflect on any challenges you faced in your career so far in the neuroimaging fields?

“This challenge probably applies to science careers in general, however going from contract to contract as a postdoc can be tough. I feel I've managed it pretty well so far, but it can be a source of stress, not knowing where your next project is going to come from. There’s only so much room at the top, so I think in academia, you need to know where you want to get to, and commit to climbing the ladder. Alternatively, it can be about finding the step on the academic ladder that works for you and progressing and learning within that.

Luckily, because what we’re doing with OPM-MEG is niche, there are not many people that can do it and I’ve been able to stay in the same place, which is quite unusual in this line of work. Moving is not really feasible for me at the moment anyway, with having a little one.”

What's some advice you'd give to women coming into the field of neuroimaging?

“Don’t be afraid to just speak your mind."

"There's no such thing as a stupid question. I've learned that now. When you're first starting out, you may feel very self-conscious and think “I should know this” and then when you don't, imposter syndrome can sink in a little bit. It's good to try and forget all of that and just speak your mind. No one thinks badly of you if you ask what you might think is a dumb question. In fact, other people will definitely be thinking it too. Just keep going, don't doubt yourself!

Asking questions becomes easier the more you do it. With practice, you can do anything and it's just getting used to being in those kinds of environments. I've been in the physics department now for 10 years and asking questions can be a double whammy, because I’m not a physicist, but also because there aren’t many other women in the room. But actually, people don't judge your questions and thoughts nearly as much as you think they do.”

The importance of careful science communication in neuroimaging

In neuroimaging we see some biases with reporting sex differences over similarities, and this may give the impression that male and female brains are more different than they actually are. It can also lead to sensationalist media titles such as ‘Brain Imaging Confirms Gender Stereotypes’.

How do you think we can balance the need for researching and reporting variance without misrepresenting the meaning of the research?

“Yes, it's a tricky one, isn't it? In The Gendered Brain by Gina Rippon, she argues that overall, there are no differences between men’s and women's brains.

I find people without a science background find it difficult to understand that lack of difference, because she's basically saying the variance in brains within gender groups doesn't outweigh the difference between those groups. I feel that is the message that often gets lost. And that doesn’t just apply to sex and gender comparisons. If you're doing a study comparing healthy controls with a particular patient group, you're trying to balance the variance that is occurring naturally within the controls against the differences you're seeing between the groups as well. So, I think from a media point of view, that idea of uncertainty and ambiguity does not come across well because people want a certain answer, and scientists can’t really give that!”

Thank you for sharing your career story with us today, Lauren. It’s fascinating to hear about OPM-MEG and its exciting future in neuroimaging. Thanks also for sharing your thoughts on career challenges and navigating reporting differences in neuroimaging. To finish off, what would you like to the readers of this blog post?

“If you are interested in OPM-MEG and neuroimaging, don't be put off by how technical it is, because you never know how you can weave your career into something like this. I never thought I would be doing this originally. You can always learn. If you're interested, just keep working at it and take it step by step.”

References:

• Brookes, M. J., Leggett, J., Rea, M., Hill, R. M., Holmes, N., Boto, E., & Bowtell, R. (2022). Magnetoencephalography with optically pumped magnetometers (OPM-MEG): The next generation of functional neuroimaging. Trends in Neurosciences, 45(8), 621–634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2022.05.008

• Cerca OPM-MEG Home. (n.d.). Retrieved 14 April 2026, from https://www.cercamagnetics.com/

• Luck, S. J. (2014). An introduction to the event-related potential technique (2. edition). MIT Press.

• Op De Beeck, H., & Nakatani, C. (2025). Introduction to Human Neuroimaging (2nd edn). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009349925

• Rippon, G. (2020). The gendered brain: The new neuroscience that shatters the myth of the female brain. Vintage.

• Sanders, B. J., Gilmartin, C. G. S., Rier, L., Gascoyne, L., McCann, E., Cabrera, J., Leggett, J., Holmes, N., Hill, R. M., Boto, E., Rhodes, N., Castleman, C., Hibbert, A., Ford, D. C., Schofield, H., Doyle, C., Osborne, J., Bobela, D., Shah, V., … Evangelou, N. (2025). OPM-MEG in multiple sclerosis: Proof of principle, and the effect of naturalistic posture. NeuroImage: Clinical, 48, 103888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2025.103888

• Technology – QuSpin. (n.d.). Retrieved 14 April 2026, from https://quspin.com/technology/

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This article was written by Izzy Turner and edited by Clarise Castleman, with graphics produced by Lilly Green. If you enjoyed this article, be the first to be notified about new posts by signing up to become a WiNUK member (top right of this page)! Interested in writing for WiNUK yourself? Contact us through the blog page and the editors will be in touch.