Biography
Dr. Silvin Knight currently works as a Senior Research Fellow within the FRAILMatics research programme and The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), TCD. His current research interests include quantitative modelling of haemodynamics and autoregulation (measured using Near-infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), Finometer, and Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) MRI), as well as developing data-driven and machine learning approaches for the analysis of these neurocardiovascular networks.
Prior to joining TILDA, Silvin's research was largely focused on developing model systems and methodologies for improving / characterising the accuracy and precision of a number of quantitative MRI and ultrasound imaging techniques. Silvin completed his PhD at Trinity College Dublin in 2018 (funded by a four year research scholarship from the Irish Cancer Society), which was focused on improving the sensitivity and specificity of dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI for the detection of prostate cancer. He received his BSc in Physics (with Medical Physics and Bioengineering) from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2013, graduating with first-class honours. Prior to the career change into physics / biomedical engineering in 2010, he worked for over 10 years in the design / advertising industry as a graphic designer / project manager.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Gutiérrez-Zúñiga R, Davis J.R., Boyle R, De Looze C, Meaney J, Whelan R, Kenny R.A., Knight S.P., Romero-Ortuño R, Brain connectivity in frailty: insights from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Neurobiology of Aging, 2023
R. Gutierrez Zuñiga, J. Davis, C. De Looze, D. Carey, J. Meany, A. O'Halloran, R. Kenny, R. Romero Ortuño, S. Knight , Association of the Frailty Index with structural brain volumes in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), European Journal of Neurology, 8th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology, Vienna, Austria, June 25-28, 2022, 29, (Suppl. 1), 2022, pp120 - 120
SP Knight, J Davis, E Duggan, RA Kenny, R Romero-Ortuno, ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CARDIOVASCULAR SIGNAL ENTROPY AND FUTURE FALLS, SYNCOPE, AND FEAR OF FALLING, Age and Ageing, Annual and Scientific Meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society 2022: New Frontiers in Gerontology, 2022, 51, (Supplement_3), 2022
Andrea J. Doyle, Dervil Cody, Silvin Knight, Deirdre M. King, Francis J. Sullivan, Jacinta E. Browne, Contrast-Specific Spherical Lesion Phantoms and Ancillary Analysis Software for the Objective Evaluation of Transrectal Ultrasound System Contrast Detectability, Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 2022
C Murphy, E Duggan, S Knight, J Davis, RG Zuniga, E Connolly, RA Kenny, S McCarthy, R Romero-Ortuno, RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERUM CAROTENOID CONCENTRATIONS AND FRAILTY, PROBABLE SARCOPENIA, AND PHYSICAL FUNCTION IN THE IRISH LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON AGEING (TILDA), Age and Ageing, Annual and Scientific Meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society 2022: New Frontiers in Gerontology, 2022, 51, 2022
JRC Davis, R Boyle, SP Knight, R Romero-Ortuño, RG Zúñiga, GRIP STRENGTH, ONLY A PHYSICAL TASK? ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN RESTING-STATE BRAIN CONNECTIVITY AND GRIP STRENGTH, Age and Ageing, Annual and Scientific Meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society 2022: New Frontiers in Gerontology, 2022, 51, 2022
E Duggan, CH Murphy, SP Knight, JRC Davis, AM O'Halloran, RA Kenny, R Romero-Ortuno, INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROBABLE SARCOPENIA AND ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION: FINDINGS FROM THE IRISH LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON AGEING, Age and Ageing, Annual and Scientific Meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society 2022: New Frontiers in Gerontology, 2022, 51, 2022
Winning L, De Looze C, Knight SP, Carey D, Meaney JF, Kenny RA, O'Connell B., Tooth loss and regional grey matter volume., Journal of dentistry, 129, 2022, p104393
Caoileann H. Murphy, Eoin Duggan, James Davis, Aisling M. O'Halloran, Silvin P. Knight, Rose Anne Kenny, Sinead N. McCarthy, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Plasma lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations associated with musculoskeletal health and incident frailty in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Experimental Gerontology, 2022
Winning L., Naseer A., De Looze C., Knight S.P., Kenny R.A., O'Connell B., Tooth loss and cognitive decline in community dwelling older Irish adults: A cross-sectional cohort study, Journal of Dentistry, 119, 2022
Eoin Duggan, Caoileann H. Murphy, Silvin P. Knight, James R.C. Davis, Aisling M. O'Halloran, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Differential Associations Between Two Markers of Probable Sarcopenia and Continuous Orthostatic Hemodynamics in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 2022
Silvin P. Knight, Eoin Duggan and Roman Romero‐Ortuno, Blood Pressure Signal Entropy as a Novel Marker of Physical Frailty: Results from the FRAILMatics Clinical Cohort, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2022
Rossella Rizzo, Silvin P. Knight, James R. C. Davis, Louise Newman, Eoin Duggan, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Longitudinal study on Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART): clustering approach for mobility and cognitive decline, Geriatrics (Basel), 2022
Silvin P. Knight, Mark Ward, Louise Newman, James Davis, Eoin Duggan, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Cardiovascular signal entropy predicts all-cause mortality: evidence from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Entropy (Basel), 2022
Sebastian Moguilner, Silvin P. Knight, James R.C. Davis, Aisling M. O'Halloran, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, The Importance of Age in the Prediction of Mortality by a Frailty Index: A Machine Learning Approach in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, Geriatrics , 6, (3), 2021
De Looze C, Feeney JC, Scarlett S, Hirst R, Knight SP, Carey D, Meaney JF, Kenny RA., Sleep duration, sleep problems and perceived stress are associated with hippocampal subfield volumes in later life: Findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)., Sleep, 2021
James R. Davis, Silvin P. Knight, Orna A. Donoghue, Belinda Hernández, Rossella Rizzo, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Comparison of gait speed reserve, usual gait speed, and maximum gait speed of adults aged 50+ in Ireland using explainable machine learning, Frontiers in Network Physiology: Networks in Aging and Frailty, 2021
Boyle, R., Connaughton, M., McGlinchey, E., Knight, S.P., De Looze, C., Carey, D., Stern, Y., Robertson, I.H., Kenny, R.A. and Whelan, R, Connectome‐based predictive modeling of cognitive reserve, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 7, (S5), 2021
Caoilfhionn Ní Leidhin, Jason McMorrow, DanielCarey, LouiseNewman, Wilby Williamson, Andrew J.Fagan, Michael A.Chappell, Rose Anne Kenny, James F. Meaney, Silvin P. Knight, Age-related normative changes in cerebral perfusion: data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), NeuroImage, 229, (117741), 2021
Silvin P. Knight, Eamon Laird, Wilby Williamson, John O'Connor, Louise Newman, Daniel Carey, Celine De Looze, Andrew J. Fagan, Michael A. Chappell, James F. Meaney, Rose Anne Kenny, Obesity is associated with reduced cerebral blood flow - modified by physical activity, Neurobiology of Aging, 2021
Maasakkers, Carlijn M, Thijssen, Dick HJ, Knight, Silvin P, Newman, Louise, O'Connor, John D, Scarlett, Siobhan, Carey, Daniel, Buckley, Anne, McMorrow, Jason P, Leidhin, Caoilfhionn Ní, Feeney, Joanne, Melis, René JF, Kenny, Rose Anne, Claassen, Jurgen AHR, Looze, Céline De, Hemodynamic and structural brain measures in high and low sedentary older adults, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2021, p0271678X2110093
Roman Romero-Ortuno, Peter Hartley, James Davis, Silvin P. Knight, Rossella Rizzo, Belinda Hernández, Rose Anne Kenny, Aisling M. O'Halloran, Transitions in frailty phenotype states and components over 8 years: evidence from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2021
Rossella Rizzo, Silvin Paul Knight, James Davis, Louise Newman, Eoin Duggan, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, SART and individual trial mistake thresholds: predictive model for mobility decline, Geriatrics, 2021
Rory Boyle, Siobhan Scarlett, Silvin P Knight, Celine Looze, Yaakov Stern, Ian H Robertson, Kenny Rose Anne, Robert Whelan, Validation of composite proxy measures of cognitive reserve: What can longitudinal cohorts tell us about the association between modifiable dementia risk factors and the ageing, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2020 Alzheimer's Association International Conference, 16, 2021, ppe041824-
Silvin P. Knight, Louise Newman, John D. O'Connor, James Davis, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno , Associations between neurocardiovascular signal entropy and physical frailty, Entropy, 2021
McDowell CP, Newman L, Monroe DC, O'Connor JD, Knight SP, Kenny RA, Herring MP., The association between generalized anxiety disorder and resting-state prefrontal cortex oxygenation is modified by self-reported physical activity: results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing., The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2021
David Moloney, Silvin P. Knight, Louise Newman, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Eight orthostatic haemodynamic patterns in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA): stability and clinical associations after 4 years, Geriatrics, 2021
Boyle R, Knight SP, De Looze C, Carey D, Scarlett S, Stern Y, Robertson IH, Kenny RA, Whelan R., Verbal intelligence is a more robust cross-sectional measure of cognitive reserve than level of education in healthy older adults., Alzheimer's research & therapy, 13, (1), 2021, p128
O'Connor JD, O'Connell MDL, Knight SP, Newman L, Donoghue OA, Kenny RA., Impaired Stabilisation of Orthostatic Cerebral Oxygenation is Associated with Slower Gait Speed: Evidence from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing., The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2021
Silvin P. Knight, Louise Newman, Siobhan Scarlett, John D. O'Connor, James Davis, Celine De Looze, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Associations between Cardiovascular Signal Entropy and Cognitive Performance over Eight Years, Entropy, 2021
Silvin Knight, Louise Newman, John O'Connor, Rose Anne Kenny, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Approximate entropies of resting state continuous neurocardiovascular physiological signals are associated with physical frailty in older adults, Entropy 2021: The Scientific Tool of the 21st Century, Entropy 2021: The Scientific Tool of the 21st Century, Virtual, 5-7 May 2021, 2021
Fiachra Maguire, Roman Romero-Ortuno, John D O'Connor, Richard B Reilly, Silvin P Knight, Rose-Anne Kenny, One-dimensional statistical parametric mapping identifies impaired orthostatic cerebrovascular and cardiovascular response in frailty index, The Journals of Gerontology, Series A Medical Sciences, 2020
O'Connor JD, O'Connell MD, Romero-Ortuno R, Hernandez B, Newman L, Reilly R, Kenny RA, Knight SP, Functional Analysis of Continuous, High-Resolution Measures in Ageing Research: A Demonstration using Cerebral Oxygenation Data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, section Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, (261), 2020
F Maguire, R Romero-Ortuno, J O'Connor, RB Reilly, S Knight, R Kenny, Orthostatic cerebrovascular response is altered in frailty: Findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, 68, 2020, ppS6-S7
Eamon Laird, Louise Newman, Silvin Knight, John O'Connor, Rose Anne Kenny, Relationship between body mass index and waist-hip ratio with resting-state cerebral oxygenation in an older population, 13th European Nutrition Conference, FENS 2019, Dublin, Ireland, 15-18 October 2019, 2020
Rory Boyle, Lee Jollans, Laura M. Rueda-Delgado, Rossella Rizzo, Görsev G. Yener, Jason P. McMorrow, Silvin P. Knight, Daniel Carey, Ian H. Robertson, Derya D. Emek-Savaş, Yaakov Stern, Rose Anne Kenny, Robert Whelan, Brain-predicted age difference score is related to specific cognitive functions: a multi-site replication analysis, Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2020
Silvin Knight, Eamon Laird, John O'Connor, Louise Newman, Rose Anne Kenny, Central adiposity is associated with reduced cerebral perfusion: evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 13th European Nutrition Conference, FENS 2019, Dublin, Ireland, 15-18 October 2019, 79, (OCE2), Cambridge University Press, 2020
Hirst, Rebecca J., Whelan, Robert, Boyle, Rory, Setti, Annalisa, Knight, Silvin, O"Connor, John, Williamson, Wilby, McMorrow, Jason, Fagan, Andrew J., Meaney, James F., Kenny, Rose Anne, De Looze, Celine, Newell, Fiona N., Grey matter volume in the right Angular Gyrus is associated with differential patterns of multisensory integration with ageing, Neurobiology of Aging, 2020
Boyle, Rory, Scarlett, Siobhan, Knight, Silvin P, Looze, Celine, Stern, Yaakov, Robertson, Ian H, Anne, Kenny Rose, Whelan, Robert, Validation of composite proxy measures of cognitive reserve, 16, (S10), 2020
O'Connor JD, O'Connell MDL, Nolan H, Newman L, Knight SP, Kenny RA., Impact of Standing Speed on the Peripheral and Central Hemodynamic Response to Orthostasis: Evidence From the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing., Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979), 75, (2), 2020, p524-531
Céline De Looze, Wilby Williamson, Rebecca Hirst, John O'Connor, Silvin Knight, Cathal McCrory, Daniel Carey, Rose‐Anne Kenny, Impaired orthostatic heart rate recovery is associated with smaller thalamic volume: Results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA), Human Brain Mapping, 2020
Andrew J Fagan, Silvin P Knight, Matthew Clemence, James F Meaney, Accuracy and precision of DCE-MRI acquired with golden-angle radial k-space under-sampling, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 27th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 11-16 May 2019, 2019
Knight, S.P. and Meaney, J.F. and Fagan, A.J., DCE-MRI protocol for constraining absolute pharmacokinetic modeling errors within specific accuracy limits, Medical Physics, 46, (8), 2019, p3592-3602
Robert Briggs, Anne Buckley, Silvin Knight, Jim Meaney, Sean Kennelly, Rose Anne Kenny, The Relationship between Late Life Depressive Symptoms and Cerebral White Matter Disease is Modified by Systemic and Orthostatic Blood Pressure, Age and Ageing, 48(Supplement_3), 2019, ppiii1-iii16
Silvin P. Knight, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Optimal temporal resolution for accurate AIF measurement and error-constrained pharmacokinetic modelling of DCE data, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 27th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 11-16 May 2019, 2019
Silvin P. Knight, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Quantification of the absolute accuracy and precision of DCE-MRI measurements of the arterial input function, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 26th Annual Meeting, Paris, France, 16-21 June 2018, 2018
Silvin P. Knight, Matthew Clemence, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Quantification of the effects of golden-angle radial k-space under-sampling on DCE-MRI accuracy and precision, Medical Physics, The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM): 60th annual meeting and exhibition, Nashville, TN, USA, 29th July - 2nd Aug, 45, (6), 2018
Silvin P. Knight, Jacinta E. Browne, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Effects of sampling frequency on the accuracy of phenomenological and pharmacokinetic parameters derived from dynamic contrast enhanced MRI data, Physica Medica: European Journal of Medical Physics, 42, 2017, pp353
Knight, S.P. and Browne, J.E. and Meaney, J.F.M. and Fagan, A.J., Quantitative effects of acquisition duration and temporal resolution on the measurement accuracy of prostate dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data: a phantom study, Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 30, (5), 2017, p461-471
Silvin Knight, Jacinta Browne, James Meaney, Andrew Fagan, Quantitative evaluation of the effect of temporal resolution and acquisition duration on the accuracy of DCE-MRI measurements in a prostate phantom, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 25th Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, USA, 22-27 April 2017 , 2017
Silvin P. Knight, Jacinta E. Browne, James F. Meaney, David S. Smith, Andrew J. Fagan, A Novel Prostate DCE-MRI Flow Phantom for the Quantitative Evaluation of Pharmacokinetic Parameters, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 24th Annual Meeting, Singapore, 7-13th May 2016, 2016
Silvin P. Knight, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Rapid prototyping: Offering new opportunities in phantom design and construction, Physica Medica: European Journal of Medical Physics, 32, (2), 2016, pp427
Silvin P. Knight, Jacinta E. Browne, James F. Meaney, David S. Smith, Andrew J. Fagan, Error quantification in pharmacokinetic parameters derived from DCE-MRI data using a novel anthropomorphic dynamic prostate phantom, Physica Medica: European Journal of Medical Physics, 32, (7), 2016, pp949
Silvin P. Knight, Jacinta E. Browne, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Effect of temporal resolution and sampling duration on pharmacokinetic parameters derived from prostate DCE-MRI data: a quantitative phantom study, The European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB) 2016, Vienna, Austria, Sept 29th - Oct 1st , 2016
Knight SP, Browne JE, Meaney JF, Smith DS, Fagan AJ, A novel anthropomorphic flow phantom for the quantitative evaluation of prostate DCE-MRI acquisition techniques, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 61, 2016, p7468 - 7483
Silvin P. Knight, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, A flow phantom for the quantitative validation of DCE-MRI techniques, Physica Medica: European Journal of Medical Physics, 32, (2), 2016, pp417
Silvin P. Knight, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, A novel flow phantom for the quantitative evaluation of prostate DCE-MRI techniques, The European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB) 2015, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2015
Silvin P. Knight, James F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, A review of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, Physica Medica: European Journal of Medical Physics, 30, (6), 2014, pp721