Personal statement

Biography

Dr Zhen (Ricky) Qiu received a BSc degree in Electronic Engineering and MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from Fudan University, China. After receiving the Ph.D. degree in Computational Physics from Heriot-Watt University, he worked as a Research Fellow and Computing Team Leader at the University of Edinburgh. Since Feb. 2024 he was appointed Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Computing. Since 2025 he was appointed Chancellor's Fellow in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Currently he is also a visiting fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Research

Ricky’s research area is in the intersection of artificial intelligence, computer vision and biomedical engineering. His research has led to over 40 peer-reviewed journal and international conference publications, many of which were published in high-impact journals, including such as research articles in Science (co-first author, cover-page articles), Nature Communications, Neuron, Current Biology, IEEE TBME, IEEE TMI, etc. He serves as a reviewer of several journals including such as IEEE TBME, IEEE TMI, Pattern Recognition, Nature Communications, Cell Press Journals, Scientific Reports, etc. He is a member of IEEE, BMVA and the SfN. He is currently a guest editor for the Journal of Imaging

He has been engaged extensively with research funding applications, having secured grants as PI from Royal Society (RS) and Royal Society of Edinburgh, and as named fellow from Wellcome Trust, European Research Council (ERC) etc. His current research focuses on developing advanced AI and computational approaches to study brains, especially in following areas:

1. AI and deep learning for prediction and prognosis of mental disorders.
2. AI foundational models for mental healthcare
3. Generative AI for imaging

He currently has PhD scholarship opportunities. Prospective PhD students, visiting scholars/students are encouraged to contact Dr Qiu by email, z.qiu@strath.ac.uk

Selected Publications

• Mélissa Cizeron*, Zhen Qiu* (*Equal contributions), Babis Koniaris, Ragini Gokhale, Noboru Komiyama, Erik Fransén, Seth Grant, A brainwide atlas of synapses across the mouse lifespan. Science (2020) 369, 270-275. (cover article)

• Fei Zhu*, Mélissa Cizeron*, Zhen Qiu* (*Equal contributions), Ruth Benavides-Piccione, Maksym Kopanitsa, Nathan Skene, Babis Koniaris et al., Architecture of the mouse brain synaptome. Neuron (2018) 99, 781-799.

• Edita Bulovaite, Zhen Qiu, Maximilian Kratschke, Adrianna Zgraj, David Fricker, Eleanor Tuck, Ragini Gokhale et al., A brain atlas of synapse protein lifetime across the mouse lifespan. Neuron (2022) 110, 4057-4073.

• Laura Tomas-Roca, Zhen Qiu, Erik Fransén, Ragini Gokhale, Edita Bulovaite, David Price, Noboru Komiyama et al., Developmental disruption and restoration of brain synaptome architecture in the murine Pax6 neurodevelopmental disease model. Nature Communications (2022) 13, 6836. 

• Dimitra Koukaroudi, Zhen Qiu, Erik Fransén, Ruth Benavides-Piccion, Noboru Komiyama Julie Seibt, Seth Grant, Sleep deprivation targets synapse diversity in key brain centers of cognition and memory. Current Biology (2024), 34, 3836-3843.

Funding

• Project PI, Tenovus Scotland 07/2026 - 12/2027.
• Project PI, Functional and molecular analysis in the study of PTSD, Royal Society, IEC\NSFC\242504, January 2025 - January 2027.
• Project PI, Cost-effective AI for Human Brain Synaptome Mapping, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Oc. 2025 - Oc. 2026.