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Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson

@ptenigma.bsky.social

1.5K followers 1.3K following 750 posts

Neuroscientist, professor
AI guided tour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOORfzGjCTA
ENIGMA guided tour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNjP5nZsJyQ
Diffusion MRI of Brain Diseases - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jHFm0wcN0 .. more

Paul Thompson is a British-American neuroscientist, and a professor of neurology at the Imaging Genetics Center at the University of Southern California. Thompson obtained a bachelor's degree in Greek and Latin languages and mathematics from Oxford University. He also earned a master's degree in mathematics from Oxford and a PhD degree in neuroscience from University of California, Los Angeles. .. more

Neuroscience 37%

Medicine 18%

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Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 13d

Nicely organised cats

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 14d

Although I never drove an Uber, they sent tax forms to the IRS saying I earned ~$30k (got another one today). I reported the identity theft to IRS/FTC/Uber (hopefully fixed it). Still curious who’s driving an Uber as me -ask them some tough neuro questions if Paul Thompson pops up in your Uber app!!

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 17d

If you like modern AI with latent diffusion + flow matching, take a look at [1] well before latent diffusion, you will see how natural variation can arise naturally from statistical laws built with PDEs, continuum mechanics, + Bayesian priors that arise from these operators+their Green's functions.

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 17d

This later led to metric pattern theory, a general framework to understand variation in objects, a general theory of metrics on diffeomorphisms, and procedures to construct flows that do not fold (diffeomorphisms) by integrating velocity fields.

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 17d

..the deformations u(x) result from a stochastic differential equation Lu = e, where L is a self-adjoint differential operator, whose covariance can be learned from data, and may be non-stationary.

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 17d

But work by Michael Miller, Ulf Grenander, and the Brown Pattern Theory school showed that natural variation in brain geometry, and function, could be modelled as a set of probabilistic transformations of a template, where ..

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 17d

In the 1990s, as statistical parametric mapping was being developed, the standard way to study disease effects on the brain was to average images together.

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 17d

Brilliant talk by Michael Miller at USC today. Michael has inspired countless generations of students, including me in the 1990s when his work with Ulf Grenander [1] helped new generations of mathematicians get involved with medical imaging and neuroscience.
[1] www.ams.org/journals/qam...

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 18d

Brilliant to catch up with giants in neuroimaging + genetics, Anders Dale and Ole Andreassen. Thank you to Pravesh Parekh from the J Craig Venter Institute for a great talk on detecting time-dependent genomic effects on the brain, and his FEMA method to accelerate massively parallel GWAS analyses.

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 18d

Hurray, many congrats !! :) 🎉

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 19d

Thrilled to welcome Dr. Pauline Favre on a Fulbright Fellowship to work with us on international neuroimaging in bipolar disorder! International exchange speeds up science + medicine, opens doors to training+resources; helps everyone reach their potential

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 21d

Thank you to my daughter Lauren Thompson for making this cool flyer + posting it around campus !

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 25d

PUZZLE question (asking for a friend):
Does the fastest (shortest) flight from South Africa to Los Angeles go through: 1. Greenland*, 2. Brazil, 3. ask the cool bird ?
* so long as nobody is invading it

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 26d

The weather got worse

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 26d

This wasn't a very sensible way to get home, or edit papers for Friday's EMBC conference deadline

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 26d

A world map
*yes there are no people (only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun)

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 26d

Haha exactly :)

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 26d

Today I learned you should stand still if a paraglider is approaching

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 29d

Haha I bet the film crew decided they had to go to Switzerland :)

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · 29d

I hadn’t see these Alex and now I am going to be hooked on them!! I miss all these places but somehow only go visit for about a day at a time - more great places for the list thank you 🙏

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 17

Cheerio England, sad to leave

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 16

Haha you have an amazing memory !! Hoping you are warmer South of the Watford Gap :)

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 16

That is absolutely awesome Alex ! Somehow all the roads lead to a bleak mysterious landscape

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 16

At the end of this bleak remote road there was suddenly this

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 15

I surprised my mom with a very quick visit (she is 88!). This is what it looks like at 3pm in the Yorkshire Moors*
*it really is like the Emily Brontë books / Wuthering Heights movies

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 14

UK football* : “it has been utterly compelling, this first half, that has failed to yield a goal.”
US football: 42-68 at half time
* well, soccer

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 14

Very green !

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 14

Heading north. The flight attendant asked if I had ever been to England before ;)

Paul Thompson @ptenigma.bsky.social · Jan 7

Lunchtime in Mexico