Principal Investigator
Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve, Canada Research Chair in Early Detection of Alzheimer’s disease
Dr. Villeneuve is an Associate Professor at McGill University in the department of Psychiatry, and a member of the Integrated Program in Neuroscience. She is also an Associate Member of the Neurology and Neurosurgery department, within the Faculty of Medicine. She is Director of the StoP-AD Centre and its PREVENT-AD program at the Research Centre of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. She is also an Associate Member of the McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging. Read More
Dr. Villeneuve did a first postdoctoral fellowship under the supervision of Professor William Jagust at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley. A central focus of her research was to examine the interplay between beta-amyloid deposition, vascular diseases, and cognition in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Villeneuve did a second postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University under the supervision of Professor Todd Parrish and in collaboration with the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. This second training involved the proposing of a multimodal MR-based imaging battery to determine the predictive value of neurovascular insults, such as deterioration of the blood-brain barrier or reduced cerebral vascular reactivity, to detect early changes associated with amyloid pathology. Dr. Villeneuve received her PhD at the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Professor Sylvie Belleville and has been a member of the Ordre des Psychologues du Québec since 2009.
Dr. Villeneuve’s work is currently supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Contact: villeneuve.sylvia(/at/)gmail.com
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Postdoctoral Researchers
Valentin Ourry, FRQS Fellow
Valentin is a post-doctoral fellow in the Villeneuve Lab. He received his BA and MSc in Neurosciences from the University of Caen, France. He then obtained his PhD in Psychology from the University of Caen in 2021, under the supervision of Dr. Rauchs in the Chetelat Lab. As a member of the Villeneuve Lab, he will continue to study lifestyle factors and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers using multimodal imaging in aging and preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing classical and flamenco guitar and fly fishing Canada’s exceptional rivers.
Contact: valentin.ourry(/at/)gmail.com
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Doctoral Students
Frédéric St-Onge, HBHL and Mitacs Accelerate Fellow
Frédéric completed a BA in Psychology and an MSc in Neurosciences at Université Laval, in Québec City, Canada. During his master’s program, he studied brain imaging biomarkers (MRI and FDG-PET) in asymptomatic carriers of genetic mutations causing frontotemporal dementia. Now in the Villeneuve Lab for his PhD, Frédéric will aim to predict, as early as possible, cognitively healthy individuals who will develop cognitive impairment over time, using a combination of clinical and neuroimaging variables. When he’s not working, he likes to geek out over TV series, movies and video games. He also likes to read, cook and travel.
Contact: frederic.st-onge(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Jonathan Gallego Rudolf, HBHL Fellow
Jonathan completed his BA in Psychology and MSc in Neurobiology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, in Mexico. He joined the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill in January 2020, co-supervised by Dr. Villeneuve and Dr. Sylvain Baillet. His project aims to investigate the association between aberrant electrophysiological activity (assessed by MEG) and the accumulation of Aβ and tau proteins (as measured by PET imaging) in asymptomatic older adults from the PREVENT-AD cohort. Outside the lab, Jonathan likes to travel, play sports, and watch TV series/documentaries.
Contact: jogaru1818(/at/)gmail.com
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Mohammadali Javanray, Mitacs Accelerate Fellow
Mohammadali joined the Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN) at McGill University as a PhD student in September 2020. He did his master’s in Biomedical Engineering at Shiraz University, investigating resting state fMRI static and dynamic brain functional connectivity differences in autistic patients vs healthy controls. When not working, you could find him exploring new places in the city, watching F1 races or soccer games, and karting.
Contact: mohammadali.javanray(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Ting Qiu
Ting received her MSc in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), in China. She is now a PhD student in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill. Using multimodal analysis, her PhD project aims to understand the associations between white matter changes and Aβ and tau pathology in people at risk of AD. Outside the lab, Ting enjoys playing badminton, practicing yoga, and exploring new places.
Contact: ting.qiu(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
Yara Yakoub, QBIN Fellow, 2023-2024 ISTAART Ambassador
Yara is a recent graduate from the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa. As a PhD student, Yara will be working on identifying and validating blood plasma Aβ biomarkers in asymptomatic individuals at high-risk of AD. In her free time, Yara enjoys reading, watching football, and exploring new recipes.
Contact: yara.yakoub(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Alfonso Fajardo-Valdez
Alfonso earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and an MSc degree in neuroscience at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). During his bachelor’s, Alfonso investigated the influence of early life stress on the later onset of impulsivity; and during his master’s he collaborated on a large project to examine the correlation between Resting-State fMRI functional connectivity and cognitive impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy. Alfonso is interested in cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging analysis, and cross-species comparative studies. During his PhD, he will asses the amyloid-beta and tau pathology progression in subjects at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Alfonso is a lover of coffee and a huge fan of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the lord of the rings sagas. During his free time, he enjoys playing chess, hanging out with friends, and reading novels and scientific diffusion books. He also loves programming and coding stuff.
Contact: alfonso.fajardovaldez(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Master’s Students
Bery Mohammediyan
After completing two research projects with Dr Villeneuve during her undergrad years, Bery started her Master’s Degree in the Villeneuve Lab. For her Master’s thesis, Bery is exploring the association between sleep disturbances and Alzheimer’s pathology in cognitively unimpaired adults part of the longitudinal PREVENT-AD cohort. Bery is interested in contributing to the field of research examining different modifiable risk factors that could help detect individuals at-risk of developing AD. When she is not at the lab she enjoys participating in PET data gathering at the Montreal neurological Institutes. When she is not studying or working Bery enjoys reading, running, travelling and baking.
Contact: bery.mohammediyan(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Undergraduate Students
Julien Ménès
Julien is an undergraduate researcher completing his B.Sc. in Physiology with a minor in Neuroscience at McGill University. In the Villeneuve lab, he will be investigating the possible links between Sex Hormones and AD pathology in the PREVENT-AD cohort, as well implementing the REDCap software into the lab. Outside the lab, Julien enjoys working out and spending time outdoors.
Visiting Scholars
Alexa Pichet Binette
Alexa is a postdoctoral fellow at the Clinical Memory Research Unit of Lund University. She obtained her PhD in Neuroscience at McGill University in 2020 under the supervision of Dr. Villeneuve, where she studied brain and behavioural factors in aging and Alzheimer’s disease using multimodal neuroimaging.
Contact: apichetbinette(/at/)gmail.com
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Staff
Jordana Remz
Jordana works as a research assistant handling data management and data processing automation. When not learning something new at the lab, she’s learning something new outside the lab.
Contact: jordana.remz.comtl(/at/)ssss.gouv.qc.ca
Julie Bailly
Julie received her BA in Biomedical Science at Université de Liège, in Belgium, followed by her MSc in Neurosciences at University of California San Diego, in USA. She then completed a Neurobiology PhD in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill University, in Canada, where she studied the implication of mu opioid receptor-positive from habenular networks in aversive states. She is now the clinical research coordinator in the Villeneuve Lab.
Contact: Julie.bailly(/at/)mail.mcgill..ca
Christine Déry
Christine graduated with a Master’s degree in microbiology at the university of Sherbrooke. Upon landing her second work contract doing genetic testing, she started recruiting and working with research participants. She then realized she had found her calling. She then retired from working with pipets and DNA and changed research field to predominantly work with research participants and administer cognitive testing. She joined the lab in May 2022, as a research coordinator, performing neuropsychological testing on the PREVENT-AD cohort as well as managing part of the Villeneuve lab. When she is not working, Christine is either cooking and baking, or running after her kids.
Contact: christine.dery.comtl(/at/)ssss.gouv.qc.ca
Louise Hudon
Retired from the University of Sherbrooke, Louise works as a research assistant, performing neuropsychological tests.
Contact: louise.hudon.comtl(/at/)ssss.gouv.qc.ca
StoP-AD Centre Clinical Coordinator
Jennifer Tremblay-Mercier
Jennifer did her studies at Sherbrooke University in Pharmacology (baccalaureate) and Physiology (Master). She is the research coordinator of the PREVENT-AD program since 2013 and also involved in open science initiatives at McGill University. Besides McGill and the Douglas, Jennifer is keeping up the beat playing with her little Gustave and spending time outside working around the house!
Contact: Jennifer.Tremblay-Mercier(/at/)douglas.mcgill.ca