Le mardi 19 mai 2026, Monsieur Naji Laith Naji ALNAGGER, titulaire d'un Master in science in neuroscience (University College London - Royaume-Uni)  et d'un Certificat de formation à la recherche en sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques présentera l'examen en vue de l'obtention du grade de Doctorat en sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques sous la direction de Madame Olivia GOSSERIES et de Madame Jitka ANNEN.

Cette épreuve consistera en la défense publique d'une thèse intitulée : "Perturbing Consciousness: Multimodal Neuroimaging and Whole-Brain Modelling in Disorders of Consciousness, Psychedelics and Anaesthesia". 

Le jury sera composé de :

Guillaume DRION (Président), Charlotte MARTIAL (Secrétaire), Jitka ANNEN, Gustavi DECO (Univ. Barcelone), Olivia GOSSERIES, Sepher MORTAHEB (UAntwerpen), Emmanuel STAMATAKIS (Univ. Cambridge).

Résumé de la thèse

Following a severe brain injury and an initial period of coma, patients can occupy a disorder of consciousness (DoC). The neurological dysfunction of patients with DoC takes both functional and structural manifestations. These can be studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) respectively. Despite over two decades of imaging research, we remain some distance away from a comprehensive understanding of the structural and functional biomarkers in these patients. Furthermore, current treatment options are severely limited. From theoretical and computational neuroscience towards clinical applications, this thesis will combine several perspectives and approaches to improve the diagnosis and present new potential treatments for patients with DoC. I will first outline the current state of multimodal imaging through a narrative review. The thesis will then set out a validated clinical pipeline for the analysis of patients with DoC using both fMRI and DWI data. I will continue via an opinion piece to outline potential new treatments using the acute effects of psychedelic drugs before investigating the treatment potential of psychedelics and anaesthetics via two virtual clinical trials using in-silico whole brain computational models of patients with DoC.