Rebekah Smikle

Thesis title: The impact of preterm birth and perinatal inflammation on cognitive and brain development

Biography

Qualifications

  • PhD Translational Neuroscience, funded by Wellcome Trust, University of Edinburgh (2021-2026)
  • MSc Neuroscience in Neurodegeneration, King's College London (2019-2020)
  • BSc Neuroscience, University College London (2016-2019)

Research summary

Inflammation, preterm birth, neuroimaging, neurodevelopment

Affiliated research centres

  • Institute for Regeneration and Repair
  • Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research

Conference details

Pediatric Academic Societies meeting, Boston, USA, 2026: Oral presentation 

Joint congress of European Neonatal Societies, Belgrade, Serbia: Short Oral presentation 

Neonatal society Summer Meeting, Birmingham, UK: Oral presentation 

Neonatal Society and Fetal & Neonatal Physiological Society Joint Summer Conference, Nottingham, UK: Oral presentation

Smikle, R., Vaher, K., Jiménez-Sánchez, L., Corrigan, A., Turner, H., Fletcher-Watson, S., Cox, S.R., Richardson, H., & Boardman, J.P. (2026). Parental report of language, attention and executive functions at two years: correlational structure of measures and applications to prematurity. [version 2; peer review: 2 approved with reservations]. Wellcome Open Research, 10, 317. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.24065.2

Smikle, R., Mckinnon, K., Vaher, K., Turner, H., Cruickshank, H., Amir, R., Chua, Y. W., Conole, E. L. S., Reynolds, R. M., Batty, G. D., Tsanas, A., Murphy, L., Whalley, H. C., Marioni, R. C., Cox, S. R., & Boardman, J. P. (2025). Neonatal methylation-based predictors of childhood cognition [Preprint]. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.23.25328231

Mckinnon, K., Blesa Cábez, M., Thye, M., Abel, S., Smikle, R., Skelton, J., Jiménez-Sánchez, L., Vaher, K., Sullivan, G., Corrigan, A., Barclay, G., Jardine, C., Gerrish, I., McIntyre, D., Chua, Y. W., Amir, R., Quigley, A. J., Battersby, C., Tsanas, A., Batty, G.D., Reynolds, R.M., Cox, S.R, Whalley, H.C., Thrippleton, M.J., Bastin, M.E., Richarson, H., Boardman, J.P. (2026). Preterm birth, socioeconomic status, and white matter development across childhood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101643

Vaher, K., Kenny, A., Lusarreta Parga, P., Jimenez Sanchez, L., Turner, H., Smikle, R., Corrigan, A., Cruickshank, H., Rudnicka, M., Fletcher-Watson, S., Bogaert, D., & Boardman, J. P. (2026). From microbes to milestones: Gut bacterial abundances and functional pathways associate with neurodevelopment following preterm birth. Gut Microbiology, 100006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gutmic.2026.100006

Abel, S., Thye, M., Mckinnon, K., Smikle, R., Skelton, J., Jiménez Sánchez, L. J., Barclay, G., Jardine, C., Mcintyre, D., Hamilton, I., Chua, Y.W., Hosangadi, A., Quigley, A., Batty, G.D., Thrippleton, M.J., Whalley, H.C., Boardman, J.P., Richardson, H. (2025). Investigating the impact of preterm birth on theory of mind development in five-year-old children. [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/yrbv7_v1

Vaher, K., Neal, S. R., Blesa Cábez, M., Jiménez-Sánchez, L., Corrigan, A., Stoye, D. Q., Turner, H. L., Smikle, R., Cruickshank, H., Rudnicka, M., Bastin, M. E., Thrippleton, M. J., Reynolds, R. M., & Boardman, J. P. (2024). Neonatal amygdala microstructure and structural connectivity are associated with autistic traits at 2 years of age [Preprint]. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.29.24318196

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