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Laboratory of Neuro Imaging: Graduate Students . Sarah K. Madsen Mentor: Paul M. Thompson, Ph.D. Committee: Susan Y. Bookheimer, Ph.D., Jamie D. Feusner, M.D., Arthur W. Toga, Ph.D. 2/60. My Work. Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia
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Laboratory of Neuro Imaging:Graduate Students Sarah K. Madsen Mentor: Paul M. Thompson, Ph.D. Committee: Susan Y. Bookheimer, Ph.D., Jamie D. Feusner, M.D., Arthur W. Toga, Ph.D.
2/60 My Work • Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia • No treatment for neuropathology, no cure • Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) • Ongoing, longitudinal, multi-center study to develop imaging biomarkers for the early detection and tracking of AD (N = +800 elderly individuals) Brain atrophy Amyloid and Tau Cardiovascular health * Thyroid hormone dysfunction * *modifiable NOW Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Age
9/60 MRI biomarkers reveal structural brain changes in Alzheimer's disease • Neuroimaging is a direct window into the human brain in vivo • Cortical gray matter volume, thickness, and surface area • Subcortical gray matter volume and 3D shape • Brain tissue volume changes • Genetics Corbett, A., J. Smith, and C. Ballard, New and emerging treatments for Alzheimer's disease. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2012. 12(5): p. 535-43. Fjell, A.M. and Walhovd, K.B., Neuroimaging results impose new views on Alzeihmer’s disease- the role of amyloid revised. MolNeurobiol, 2011. 45(1): p. 153-72
Being a graduate student at LONI Access to unique resources • Collaborations- within LONI, at UCLA, around the world • Faculty, staff, and students with diverse backgrounds • LONI servers and equipment- computing power and storage • Large datasets- ADNI, many others • Analysis tools- can work directly with the engineers at LONI • Staff Teams • Visualization Team- bringing our science out to the world (publications, conferences, media, outreach) • System Administrators (“computer people”)- keeping things running, extremely helpful • Pipeline Team- make improvements based on feedback, help troubleshoot • and more…
Being a graduate student at LONI • High productivity • Novel method development • Publications • Conference presentations • Financial stability • (real world consideration) • Successful at winning grants Collaborative environment with lots of support and access to resources that enable graduate students to do great science • Dynamic collaborative teams • Resources (data, analysis, visualization, people)