Giovanna Bubbico
Ph.D.  |Postdoctoral Scholar
giovannabubbico@gmail.com

I obtained my Ph.D. In Neurosciences, Imaging, and Clinical Sciences at the University of G. d’Annunzio, Italy, in joint supervision with the University of Lille, France, studying visual cognition in Alzheimer’s disease.I believe that psychophysical well-being is the result of complex interactions among lifestyle, social, environmental, genetic, and biological factors.The challenge of my postdoctoral research is to understand the interactions between these multiple factors for people’s well-being throughout life. I aim at investigating factors that can stimulate brain plasticity and reduce the risk of dementia by employing an array of preventive measures such as cognitive stimulations, sleep hygiene, and exercise.

I wish to understand how these factors contribute to brain maintenance or reserve. My investigation method is a combination of neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and behavioral techniques. Last, but not least I believe that language is a window into our brain, therefore it is essential to investigate how our aging brain processes linguistic aspects and how these can provide information on the state of brain health.

Happy to be part of the vibrant and stimulating environment offered by Sajjadi’s Lab and UCI Community.

Leisure: dogs, art, world cookbooks, wanderlust

Lorena Sordo
Ph.D., MSc., DVM  |  Postdoctoral Scholar
lsordo@hs.uci.edu

I obtained my PhD in 2021 at The Roslin Institute, The University of Edinburgh, where I studied feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome (aka feline dementia), with a particular focus on age-related neuropathological changes and their similarities to Alzheimer disease. During this time, I also investigated new ways to diagnose feline dementia through imaging techniques, such as MRI, and potential interventions to reduce the clinical signs in the affected cats. My current research interests include characterizing age-related neuropathologic changes, identifying biomarkers that could aid in the diagnosis of early stages of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as recognizing novel natural models for the translational study of Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.