Rianne Haartsen

Postdoctoral Researcher

Research Interests

I am interested in linking differences in brain development to clinical outcomes in order to improve the lives of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Examining the trajectories of brain development may help us identify infants and children who may receive a diagnosis of autism at later age and may benefit from early treatment. My research focuses on examining naturally occurring brain responses in individuals with autism from infancy to adulthood using electroencephalography (EEG). I develop robust and scalable EEG tools appropriate for use in individuals at different ages, and in clinical settings and global health settings. I am currently a post-doctoral researcher in the BOND lab led by Professor Emily J.H. Jones where I’m leading the GAIINS project (Genetics and AI for Individualized Neural Stratification). I am furthermore involved in the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings (BASIS) and the Studying Autism and ADHD Risks (STAARS) study, Longitudinal European Autism Project (LEAP and AIMS-2-TRIALS), Braintools, South African Safe Passage Study (PASS), Arbaclofen Trial, EEG on-the-go, and the Behaviour and Online Neuroimaging to study Development of Socialisation (BONDS) study.

Research Positions

2023-Current: Postdoctoral research on the GAIINS project reporting to Prof. Emily J.H. Jones and Prof. Rob Leech at Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom

2019-2023: Postdoctoral research on EU-AIMS reporting to Prof. Emily J.H. Jones at Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom

2018-2019: Birkbeck Wellcome ISSF researcher at Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom

Education 

2015-2019: PhD Psychology at Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom

2012-2014: MSc Cognitive Neuroscience: Perception, Action, and Control at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands

2009-2012: BSc Psychology at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Publications

Publications as group author in the STAARS team

Blanco, B., Lloyd-Fox, S., Begum-Ali, J., Pirazzoli, L., Goodwin, A., Mason, L., … … & The STAARS Team. (2023). Cortical Responses to Social Stimuli in Infants at Elevated Likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD: a Prospective Cross-Condition fNIRS Study. Cortex (2023). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945223002253

Carter Leno, V., Begum-Ali, J., Goodwin, A., Mason, L., Pasco, G., Pickles, A., … & the EDEN & STAARS Teams. (2022). Infant excitation/inhibition balance interacts with executive attention to predict autistic traits in childhood. Molecular Autism, 13(1), 1-13. https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-022-00526-1

Begum‐Ali, J., Goodwin, A., Mason, L., Pasco, G., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., … & The STAARS Team. (2022). Altered theta–beta ratio in infancy associates with family history of ADHD and later ADHD‐relevant temperamental traits. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(9), 1057-1067. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13563

De Laet, A., Piccardi, E. S., Begum-Ali, J., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., Jones, E. J., … & The STAARS Team. (2022). Neuronal gating of tactile input and sleep in 10-month-old infants at typical and elevated likelihood for autism spectrum disorder. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-11. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18018-w

Goodwin, A., Hendry, A., Mason, L., Bazelmans, T., Begum Ali, J., Pasco, G., … & BASIS/STAARS Team. (2021). Behavioural measures of infant activity but not attention associate with later preschool ADHD traits. Brain sciences, 11(5), 524. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050524

Fish, L. A., Nyström, P., Gliga, T., Gui, A., Begum Ali, J., Mason, L., … & BASIS/STAARS* team. (2021). Development of the pupillary light reflex from 9 to 24 months: association with common autism spectrum disorder (ASD) genetic liability and 3‐year ASD diagnosis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 62(11), 1308-1319. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13518

Hendry, A., Jones, E. J., Bedford, R., Andersson Konke, L., Begum Ali, J., Bӧlte, S., … & The Eurosibs Team (2020). Atypical development of attentional control associates with later adaptive functioning, autism and ADHD traits. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50, 4085-4105. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-020-04465-9

Begum Ali, J., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., Jones, E. J., & BASIS/STAARS Team. (2020). Early motor differences in infants at elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 50, 4367-4384. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-020-04489-1

Selected talks

Haartsen, R. (May 2023). EEG workshop. Invited talk at Centre for Brain and Cognition – Universitat Pompeu Fabra seminar series, Barcelona Spain.

Haartsen, R. (May 2023). EEG connectivity during early development of autism. Invited talk at Centre for Brain and Cognition – Universitat Pompeu Fabra seminar series, Barcelona Spain.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H., Mehra, C. (February 2023). EEG connectivity in developmental science. Workshop 7 for the FIT’NG Developmental EEG workshop series 2023, upon invitation from Dr. Lindsay G. Bowman and Dr. Sam Wass, online.

Haartsen, R. (September 2022). Ideas on robust EEG methods in developmental research. Invited talk at the SAPIENS Early Social Development conference, Ghent, Belgium.

Haartsen, R. (September 2022). Qualitative differences in the spatiotemporal brain states supporting configural face processing emerge in adolescence in autism. Oral presentation at the 50 Years of Microstates conference, Bern, Switzerland.

Haartsen, R. (June 2022). Novel approaches to analysing and recording brain responses in autism research. Talk presented at the Internal Seminar at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, UK.

Haartsen, R. (July 2022) Intra-brain connectivity during social information preprocessing. Invited talk presented at the International Congress for Infant Studies (ICIS) pre-conference workshop, Canada (online).

Haartsen, R., & Braithwaite E. (July 2021). CBCD researchers discuss global Braintools project. Invited talk at the Virtual Coffee Talks at the Babylab (online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH76rYaNdBU ).

Haartsen, R., Mason, L., Garces, P., Gui, A., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., Tillmann, J., Buitelaar, J.K., Loth, E., Murphy, D., Jones, E.J.H., & the EU-AIMS LEAP group (May 2021). Early quantitative and later qualitative neural differences during face processing in autistic individuals from childhood to adolescence. Oral presentation at the International Society for Autism Research 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual conference).

Haartsen, R., Mason, L., Garces, P., Gui, A., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., Buitelaar, J.K., Loth, E., Murphy, D., Jones, E.J.H., & the EU-AIMS LEAP team (October 2020). Mapping the building blocks of face processing in individuals with and without autism using microstate analysis. Talk presented at Neuromatch 3.0 conference (virtual conference).

Haartsen, R. (June 2020). Birkbeck Babylab’s Rianne Haartsen discusses infant brain activity. Invited talk at the Virtual Coffee Talks at the Babylab (online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiQLJ27C59I&feature=youtu.be ).

Haartsen, R., Johnson, M.H., Charman, T., Jones, E.J.H & The BASIS Team (May 2019). Diminished Social Network Connectivity in Infancy Predicts Social Communication in Toddlers with High Likelihood of Autism. Oral presentation at the International Society for Autism Research 2019 Annual Meeting, as part of a panel session ‘“Developmental Disconnections” in Infants at Risk for ASD,’ in Montreal, Canada.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, Orekhova, E.V., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., & The BASIS team (May 2018). Early functional EEG connectivity in infants at risk for autism associated with later circumscribed interests; a replication study. Talk presented the International Society for Autism Research 2018 Annual Meeting, as part of the panel session ‘Brainview: Developing New Approaches to EARLY Detection of Autism Traits’ at, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, & Johnson, M.H. (March 2018). Functional connectivity in infants at risk for autism: part II. Talk presented at the Internal Seminar at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, UK.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, & Johnson, M.H. (January 2018). Sensor-level EEG connectivity in infants who develop autism at later age. Invited talk presented at the Centre for the Developing Brain Seminar Series, King’s College London, UK.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, & Johnson, M.H. (November 2016). Functional connectivity in infants at risk for autism: part I. Talk presented at the Internal Seminar at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London, UK.

Poster Presentations

Haartsen, R.*, & Del Bianco, T., Mason, L.,  San José Cáceres, A., Colamar, L., Lefebvre, A., … & Jones, E. (September 2023). A Phase II Randomised, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Effects of Arbaclofen on EEG in Autistic Children and Adolescents: Completion, Data Quality and Feasibility. Poster presented at the AIMS-2-TRIALS General Assembly, 27th of September, 2023, in Sitges, Spain. (* shared first author)

Haartsen, R., Mason, L., Garces, P., Bomatter, P., Hipp, J., Johnson, M., Tillmann, J., Buitelaar, J., Loth, E., Murphy, D., Jones, E., & the EU-AIMS LEAP group. (May 2023). Validation of automated EEG preprocessing of the dynamic videos task for large cohorts in autism research. Poster presented at the International Society for Autism Research 2023 Annual Meeting (in person) in Stockholm, Sweden.

Haartsen, R.* & Del Bianco, T.*, Mason, L., Springer, P., Potter, M., Mackay, W., du Plessis C., Smit, P., Odendaal, H., Loth, E., & Jones, E.J. (May 2022). Bringing EEG from the lab into the clinic for autism biomarker implementation. Virtual poster presentation at the International Society for Autism Research 2022 Annual Meeting (hybrid conference). (* shared first author)

Haartsen, R., Van der Velde, B., Jones, E.J.H, Johnson, M.H., & Kemner, C. (July 2020). Test-retest reliability of infant EEG connectivity is optimized when using multiple short epochs. Poster presentation at the virtual International Congress of Infant Studies (virtual conference).

Haartsen, R., Mason, L., Johnson, M.H., Charman, T., Jones, E.J.H., & the EU-AIMS LEAP team (November 2019). Using EEG microstates to understand face processing in autism. Poster presented at the CBCD 21st Anniversary, in London, UK.

Haartsen, R., Van der Velde, B., Jones, E.J.H, Johnson, M.H., & Kemner, C. (June 2019). High test-retest reliability of EEG connectivity supports suitability as infant autism biomarker. Poster presentation at OHBM 2019 (Organization for Human Brain Mapping) in Rome, Italy.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., & The BASIS Team (March 2019). Infant theta EEG connectivity during social naturalistic stimulation associates with risk for ASD. Poster presented at ‘The developing brain in health and disease’ scientific meeting in Oxford, UK.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., & The BASIS Team (March 2019). Infant theta EEG connectivity during social naturalistic stimulation associates with risk for ASD. Poster presented at ‘The developing brain in health and disease’ scientific meeting in Oxford, UK.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, Van der Velde, B., Kemner, C., & Johnson, M.H. (September 2018). Test-retest reliability of EEG connectivity measures in infants. Poster presented at The British Psychological Society, Developmental Section Annual Conference, Liverpool, UK.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, Orekhova, E.V., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., & The BASIS team (August 2018). Atypical theta connectivity in infants with familial risk for autism in response to social stimuli. Poster presented at Flux conference, Berlin, Germany.

Haartsen, R., Jones, E.J.H, Orekhova, E.V., Charman, T., Johnson, M.H., & The BASIS team (September 2017). Early functional EEG connectivity variability related to later symptom variability in autism. Poster presented at The British Psychological Society, Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK.

Funding and Awards

Birkbeck Wellcome ISSF researcher

Birkbeck Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support (ISSF) funded the ISSF research position in Aug 2018 – Feb 2019. This funding was awarded in March 2018 to R. Haartsen, covering salary for 6 months, and a travel grant of £1500 to present findings at conferences (poster presentations at Flux in Berlin, and BPS in Liverpool, September 2018).

PhD funding

My PhD project was part of the BRAINVIEW European Training Network, which is supported by a grant from the European Community’s Horizon 2020 Program under grant agreement n° 642996 (BRAINVIEW). The PhD was further embedded into the British Autism Sibling Study (BASIS) and the Studying Autism and ADHD Risks (STAARS) project.

Travel awards

SAPIENS Early Social Development conference Travel Award (September 2022) Travel award of £570 awarded by the organising committee of the conference to attend and present an invited talk at the SAPIENS Early Social Development conference in Ghent, Belgium, in September 2022.

50 Years of Microstates Travel Award (September 2022) Travel award of £1450 awarded by the organising committee of the conference to attend both the pre-conference workshop and the conference and present a talk at the 50 Years of Microstates conference held in Bern, Switzerland, in August/September 2022.

International Society of Autism Research (INSAR) Student travel award (May 2019) Travel award of 500 USD to attend and present a talk at the international annual meeting for autism research held in Montreal, Canada, in May 2019.

Guarantors of the Brain Travel award (May 2019) Travel award of 887 GBP to attend and present a talk at the international annual meeting for autism research held in Montreal, Canada, in May 2019.

Links 

Websites:

BOND @CBCD: https://sites.google.com/view/bondcbcd

BRAINVIEW: http://brainview.org

The BASIS project: http://www.basisnetwork.org

The STAARS project: http://www.staars.org

The AIMS-2-TRIALS: https://www.aims-2-trials.eu/