Dr Meneka Sidhu

Meneka K Sidhu PhD FRCP

Our research is focused on visualising the parts of the brain involved in language and memory to understand the effects of epilepsy, and epilepsy surgery, and to mitigate memory impairments.
Our project utilises memory, language and resting state functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion MRI (dMRI) to predict and optimise post-operative cognitive outcome. Memory and language fMRI identifies specific brain areas involved in memory and language tasks, while dMRI investigates the structural connections associated with these processes.

Figure legend: Memory fMRI showing involvement of the left and right hippocampus in person with left hippocampal sclerosis.
A combined analysis of dMRI and memory fMRI is essential for understanding and predicting the effects of surgical resection and novel, less invasive, therapy like gene-therapy on seizure outcomes and cognition.

We have found ongoing brain plasticity up to ten years after epilepsy surgery that is supportive of language and memory function after the operation. We have delineated brain tracts that are critical in maintaining memory functions after epilepsy surgery. Using machine learning we have described differences in pattern recognition in the temporal lobes of people with temporal lobe epilepsy compared to healthy people.

Figure legend: cross-sectional, group verbal fluency task activation maps for controls, and people with left and right temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE, RTLE) at four time-points: pre-operative, 4 months, 12 months and up to 9 years after epilepsy surgery.

Figure Legend: Longitudinal functional connectivity changes correlated with postoperative verbal memory improvement from 3–12 months to 10 years after epilepsy surgery. (A) During verbal memory fMRI, longitudinal decreases in functional connectivity across follow-ups between the medial temporal seeds and extra-temporal regions were correlated with long-term verbal memory recovery. Connectivity is represented via dark blue connecting-lines between each seed (dark-blue spheres) and cortical regions (dark-blue fMRI clusters). (B) For verbal memory fMRI, longitudinal connectivity increases between the medial temporal seeds and right parahippocampal gyrus supported verbal memory improvement from 3–12 months to 10 years.

We will now extend these projects to identify the effects of neurostimulation, laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) and focal gene therapy.

Selected Recent Publications

Caciagli L, Paquola C, He X, Vollmar C, Centeno M, Wandschneider B, Braun U, Trimmel K, Vos SB, Sidhu MK, Thompson PJ, Baxendale S, Winston GP, Duncan JS, Bassett DS, Koepp MJ, Bernhardt BC. Disorganization of language and working memory systems in frontal versus temporal lobe epilepsy. Brain. 2022 May 2:awac150. doi: 10.1093/brain/awac150.
Fleury MN, Binding LP, Taylor P, Xiao F, Giampiccolo D, Caciagli L, Buck S, Winston GP, Thompson PJ, Baxendale S, Koepp MJ, Duncan JS, Sidhu MK. Predictors of long-term memory and network connectivity 10 years after anterior temporal lobe resection. Epilepsia. 2024 Jul 11. doi: 10.1111/epi.18058.
Fleury MN, Buck S, Binding LP, Caciagli L, Vos SB, Winston GP, Thompson PJ, Koepp MJ, Duncan JS, Sidhu MK. Episodic memory network connectivity in temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2022 Jul 18. doi: 10.1111/epi.17370.
Sablik M, Fleury MN, Binding LP, Carey DP, d'Avossa G, Baxendale S, Winston GP, Duncan JS, Sidhu MK. Long-term neuroplasticity in language networks after anterior temporal lobe resection. Epilepsia. 2024 Nov 6. doi: 10.1111/epi.18147.
Fleury MN, Binding LP, Taylor PN, Xiao F, Giampiccolo D, Buck S, Winston GP, Thompson PJ, Sallie Baxendale S, McEvoy AW, Koepp MJ, Duncan JS, Sidhu MK. Long-term memory plasticity in a decade-long connectivity study post anterior temporal lobe resection. Nat Commun 16, 692 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55704-x