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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Daniel Bowie
Daniel is a post-doctoral fellow in the Villeneuve Lab. He received his BA in Philosophy, Psychology, and Biology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2016. He then obtained his PhD in Psychology from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign in 2023, under the supervision of Drs. Gabriele Gratton and Monica Fabiani in the Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab. As a member of the Villeneuve Lab, Daniel will study how aging and vascular risk factors contribute to Alzheimer’s disease pathology and symptomatology. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, attending concerts, and watching the Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience.
Contact: daniel.bowie(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Doctoral Students
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, CSC/QBIN/HBHL Fellow
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
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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, he investigated the influence of early life stress on the later onset of impulsivity. During his master’s, he examined 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 assess amyloid-beta and tau pathology progression in individuals 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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Amelie Metz, FRQS Fellow
Amelie completed her BA in Speech and Language Therapy at LMU Munich, Germany, an MSc in Psychological, Neurological, and Clinical Linguistics at University of Salzburg, Austria, and an MSc in Neuroscience with focus on neural stem cells and nervous system repair at King’s College London, UK. She joined McGill in 2022 as a rotation PhD student. Since September 2023, she is co-supervised by Dr. Villeneuve and Dr. Mahsa Dadar, investigating the relationship between neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular pathologies, specifically white matter hyperintensities, and clinical symptoms in dementia patients. Outside the lab, Amelie enjoys yoga, reading, and attending concerts of the OSM.
Contact: amelie.metz(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
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Undergraduate Researchers
Julien Thériault-Dubé
Julien is currently pursuing an honors psychology bachelor’s degree at McGill University. He also obtained his high school diploma in Montreal. Outside of school, he loves sports and is a big fan of Star Wars.
Mélodie Leclerc
Mélodie is in her last year of her BSc in Psychology at McGill University and is doing her Honours thesis under the supervision of Dr. Villeneuve. For her Honours thesis, she will be investigating sleep disturbances in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease and how they are associated with amyloid and tau pathology. Because women are at increased risk of AD, she also aims to look at sex differences in sleep quality. Outside the lab, Mélodie enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with her friends.
Riv Beauchesne
Riv is currently studying in Neuroscience at McGill University. He investigates the longitudinal effect of education on Alzheimer’s disease. Riv also has a particular interest in neuroimaging, addiction and the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs. He loves jazz, soul, electronic and 80’s music. In his free time, he enjoys gaming, hanging out with friends, watching anime and playing the saxophone.
Contact: charles.beauchesne(/at/)mail.mcgill.ca
Staff
Alexandre Pastor-Bernier
Alexandre is a research associate at the Villeneuve Lab. His main interest is understanding the mechanisms underlying vulnerability to disease and disease progression. He is invested in exploring the associations between imaging phenotypes, genetic risk factors and behavioral covariates in healthy and patient cohorts. Alexandre’s principal domain of expertise is in DWI processing, tractography, white matter fiber seeding and fiber clustering including DTI modeling, with a special focus on structural and functional connectivity. His primary background is in classic primate electrophysiology (PhD, Université de Montréal) and human systems neuroscience (University of Cambridge).
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