Siyan Meng

Project focus:

• Investigate the combined perception of emotion from voice to face.

Main duties:

• Design EEG experiments to investigate the impact of different emotional combinations on audiovisual emotional integration perception.

Project focus:

• Conducting case-control experimental study focusing on cognitive flexibility and reinforcement learning processes in autistic individuals with self-harm behavior (Approach-Avoidance tendency, Probabilistic Reversal Learning, Intra-Extradimensional Shift).
• Innovating and amending the IMAGINATOR App protocol for episodic simulation-based self-harm reduction.

Skills acquired:

• Cognitive therapy in mental imagery-based technique; autistic and neurotypical group recruitment and testing; data collection; data analysis (R, SPSS).

Publication:

• Manuscript in preparation for publication in The International Journal of Psychiatry

Conference:

• Attended 2024 Summer Meeting of the British Association for Psychopharmacology;
• Presented at University College London, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Annual Conference.

Project focus:

• Investigating the therapeutic effects of imidazoline I2 receptor ligands BU224 subchronic treatment in a mouse model of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
• Conducting behavioral analysis to study hippocampal-dependent memory: fear conditioning test; novel object recognition test (NOR); open field test.

Skills acquired:

• Mouse model Cryosectioning; Neuronal cell culture; Western Blotting, Free-floating Immunohistochemistry (DAB); Fiji (Image J) analysis; GraphPad Prism.

Conference:

• Attended the Brain Conference 2024 at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Project focus:

• Investigating the role of microglia in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
• Assessing microglial activation by amyloid in common allele and rare TREM2 variant forms of AD.

Skills acquired:

• Hands-on experience in advanced data analysis and imaging techniques (confocal microscopy and 3D reconstruction using Imaris software); substantial understanding of microglial biology in the context of neurodegeneration; immunofluorescence staining.

The Laughter Project (Professor Sophie Scott):

• Assisting with dyadic data collection and conducting behavioral testing to study the modulation effect on humor stimuli.
• Supporting the design, implementation, and analysis of fMRI and EEG studies.

Theory of Mind – Autism in Pakistan Project:

• Leading in participant recruitment and conducting in-person “Theory of Mind” questionnaire & interview study.

Autistic Fragile X premutation Project:

• Exploring the relationship between mentalizing and autistic trait in women with/without Fragile X premutation; Conducting WASI-IQ test & AQ/BAPQ questionnaire analysis.
• Eye-tracking in-person testing & preparatory calibration.

• Project focus: Understanding the underlying mechanism of how and why we remember certain events and episodes; Discovering the role of the hippocampus and related brain structures in storing and retrieving episodic memories.
• Skills acquired: conducting behavioral experiments and neuroimaging techniques (EEG and MRI); closely working with neurodivergent populations.

• Project focus: Histological analysis of microglial cell expression in sympathetic nervous system.
• Skills acquired: Python & MATLAB data analysis.

• Participating in the Great Exhibition Road Festival 2025 Event in arts-science collaborations
• Collaborating with Royal College of Art animation program to promote public communication of mental health science
• Consulting on the London (UK) Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Fellowship to Chloe Barnard for ‘Dark River’ and working with Menagerie Theatre Company on a play inspired by how mental images can amplify our mood.

• Launch cognitive-behavioral & problem-solving therapy sessions.
• Structured Psychological Support of rural education aid in China.

• Facilitate and initiate inter, intra-departmental communications.
• Voice student concerns and coordinate balanced solutions.

• Mental health consultants in Kanambu community in Ecuador, Southern America
• Development and evaluation of interventions for autistic people with mental health problems.