My research focusses on how neuronal synchronization within the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical network contributes to the coordination of neuronal activity for movement control and flexible behaviour. I am  interested in understanding how mechanisms of neural communication are affected in Parkinson's disease, dystonia and in compulsive behavioural disorders. During my PhD, I recorded local field potentials from the subthalamic nucleus in patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery. Our studies have informed a new deep brain stimulation protocol, which is currently being tested in more detail to understand if it could help improve gait control.

I have collaborations with researchers in the US, UK and Germany on a range of projects including MEG recordings from patients, single cell recordings from rodents and non-human primate data.

Biography

In 2017, Petra received her D.Phil. in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford, where she was supervised by Professor Peter Brown and Huiling Tan. For Petra’s doctoral thesis, entitled "Neuronal dynamics of flexible motor control in the human subthalamic nucleus and cortex", she recorded local field potential activity from the subthalamic nucleus in people with Parkinson’s, studying the role of such activity in upper limb movements and gait.

Petra continued to work at the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit as a postdoctoral researcher, and in 2018, was appointed as Tilleard Cole Junior Research Fellow at Worcester College. In August 2021, Petra moved to the University of Bristol as a Lecturer in Neuroscience to set up her own research group.