Postdoctoral Researcher
Office: 1400 Biological Sciences III
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Email: ndiprosp@uci.edu
Natalie DiProspero Ph.D.
I first met Dr. Mike Yassa in the summer of 2013 in my hometown of Baltimore, MD. While working as a research assistant in his lab at Johns Hopkins University, I learned about the important role the hippocampus plays in pattern separation and how that changes with age. That experience sparked my interest in the aging brain. I earned a B.A. in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and French from Washington University in St. Louis in 2015. I spent two years as a postbaccalaureate fellow at the National Institute on Aging in the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, where I investigated the relationship between metabolic syndrome and longitudinal change in cortical thickness in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging dataset. In 2017, I rejoined Mike’s lab, this time as a PhD student at UCI. My dissertation research aimed to identify biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in people with Down syndrome (DS) using resting state fMRI, amyloid and tau PET, and neuropsychological assessments. Now as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab, I’m continuing this line of research with a particular focus on understanding how functional network architecture changes throughout the course of AD in people with DS.
Lab Research Projects
I contribute to the following research areas in the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory.
My research focuses on using neuroimaging methods like resting state fMRI and PET to identify biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). People with DS are at increased risk of developing AD due to a genetic predisposition to increased β-amyloid accumulation. Longitudinal studies of people with DS offer a unique opportunity to track brain changes that appear prior to clinical onset of AD. Neuroimaging biomarkers of AD allow researchers to stage an individual’s disease progression, which in turn enables clinical trial enrollment of at-risk individuals who don’t yet show signs of cognitive impairment.
DiProspero N, Sathishkumar M, Janecek J, Smith A, McMillan L, Peterson M, Phelan M, Tustison N, Keator DB, Doran E, Hom C, Nguyen D, Andrews H, Krinsky-McHale S, Brickman AM, Rosas HD, Lai F, Head E, Mapstone M, Schupf N, Silverman W, Lott IT, O’Bryant S, Yassa MA. Neurofilament light chain concentration mediates the association between regional medial temporal lobe structure and memory in adults with Down syndrome. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2024;16(1):e12542. doi: 10.1002/dad2.12542.
DiProspero N, Keator DB, Phelan M, van Erp TGM, Doran E, Powell DK, Van Pelt KL, Schmitt FA, Head E, Lott IT, Yassa MA. Selective impairment of long-range default mode network functional connectivity as a biomarker for preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down syndrome, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2022;85(1):153-65. doi: 10.3233/JAD-210572.
DiProspero N, Kim S, Yassa, M. Magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers for cognitive decline in Down syndrome. In: Head E, Lott I, editors. The neurobiology of aging and Alzheimer disease in Down syndrome. 1st ed. Cambridge (MA): Elsevier Academic Press. 2021. p. 149-172.
Reagh ZM, Roberts JM, Ly M, DiProspero N, Murray E, Yassa MA. Spatial discrimination deficits as a function of mnemonic interference in aged adults with and without memory impairment. Hippocampus. 2014;24(3):303-14. doi: 10.1002/hipo.22224.
- Trainee Professional Development Award, Society for Neuroscience (2021)
- Director’s Excellence Award, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California – Irvine (2021)
- Predoctoral appointment to T32 Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award: Training in the Neurobiology of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (2T32AG000096-31), Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California – Irvine (2019-2021)
- Jared M. Roberts Memorial Graduate Student Travel Award, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California – Irvine (2019)
- Outstanding Poster Award, NIH Postbac Poster Day (2017)
- NIA Scientific Director’s Award, NIA Scientific Retreat (2017)
- Outstanding Poster Award, NIH Postbac Poster Day (2016)
- College Honors in Arts and Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis (2015)
- Summer Undergraduate Research Award, Washington University in St. Louis (2012)
What the lab means to me…
“The Yassa lab has become my home away from home. It was challenging to move to California from the East Coast for graduate school, but I quickly found my community among the members of the lab. We openly share our stories, our ideas, and our passions. I’m proud to be a part of this amazing science family.”
