BRAIN ARCHITECTURE,
IMAGING AND COGNITION
(BRAIC) LABORATORY
Gaelle Doucet, PhD
Director, BrAIC Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital
Assistant Clinical Professor, Creighton UniversityPostdoctoral Fellow – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2017)
Postdoctoral Fellow – Thomas Jefferson University (2015)
PhD – Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Caen (France) (2010)
MS – Neuropsychology, Pierre Mendès-France University (Grenoble, France) (2007)
Gaelle E. Doucet, PhD, is the Director of the Brain Architecture, Imaging and Cognition (BrAIC) laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience and has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications that have been cited more than 2,000 times. For the last 15 years, Dr. Doucet's research interests have involved the investigation of the brain's architecture and its relationship to cognition in health and disease. She is a cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in functional MRI (fMRI), particularly on resting-state fMRI. Her research has involved the use of multi-modal MRI to characterize the brain functional organization and she has applied this technology to answering questions about the impacts of neuropsychiatric disorders on brain functional organization.
During her PhD at the University of Caen in France, her work provided a description of the healthy brain intrinsic organization underlying the complex relationship across brain networks at rest in young adults. These findings offered one of the first schematic models of the brain's functional architecture and provided a normative framework for the study of intrinsic interactions between brain networks. During her postdoctoral fellowships, she further investigated the impact of neurological (i.e., epilepsy) and neuropsychiatric (i.e., schizophrenia and bipolar disorders) disorders on the brain architecture.
During her time at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY) she worked on mapping the normative brain networks underlying healthy late adulthood. As she continues her research here at the Institute, she plans to expand this research by focusing on age-related changes in brain activity and cognition, from childhood to late adulthood. Outside work, Gaelle loves to go hiking, bake and visit new cities.
Publications: 70+
Attakias Mertens, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
BrAIC Lab PhD – Psychology/Neuroscience and Behavior, University of Nebraska - Omaha
MA – Psychology/Neuroscience and Behavior, University of Nebraska - Omaha
AA – Psychology, University of Missouri – Columbia
Attakias is a postdoctoral fellow with the BrAIC Lab. He is interested in the assessment of resting-state and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). His goal is to implement these techniques to study the changes in executive functioning throughout the lifespan, including the impacts of development, healthy aging, and neurological disorders. Outside of work he likes to spend time with his partner and their two dogs, usually by watching movies or having game nights.
Lauren Foley, BS
Research Assistant I
BrAIC Lab BS – Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences, Wagner College
Lauren is a research assistant in the BrAIC Lab. Her role involves participant recruitment and running cognitive and behavioral assessments during studies. Current research interests include neuroimaging and language/literacy acquisition in signed and spoken languages. Outside of the lab, she enjoys baking and has been participating in fencing for over a decade.
Derek Pavelka, BS
Research Assistant I
BrAIC Lab BS - Mathematics and Political Science
Derek Pavelka is a research assistant in the BrAIC Lab. His role involves analyzing data for various research projects. Current research interests include the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and applications of machine learning to neuroscience. Outside of work, Derek enjoys playing guitar, trivia, and spending time with his family.