She has focused her research on the study of cognitive and/or behavioral changes in patients with cerebral lesions induced by multiple causes, in concrete, related with healthy and/or pathologic ageing. In BBSLab she investigated the application of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques in combination with neuroimaging procedures in order to characterize the transcranial brain stimulation effects on cerebral networks and the biochemical levels. Further, she joined the Pharmacog® project for the applications of some non-invasive stimulation protocols in young people in order to create an Alzheimer Disease theoretical model.

She completed the master thesis in the BBSLab in 2014 where she investigated the relationship between glutamate and GABA neurotransmitters (as measured through magnetic resonance spectroscopy) and Default Mode Network connectivity properties. From 2014 to 2015 Sara joined the Pharmacog® project as a research assistant and participated in the data collection and analysis as well in other ongoing projects of the group.

His research is focused in the cognitive neuroscience of aging field and has expertise in the use and analyses of several structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques as well as in the application of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as electrical (tDCS) and magnetic stimulation (TMS). He has recently moved to University of Oslo as a postdoctoral researcher (See it)

Her research focuses on understanding the effects of lifestyle factors on brain structure and function from normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease. During her stay at the BBSLab she investigated the cognitive and brain reserve hypotheses notably in normal aging and participants in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease. She used structural and functional MRI techniques in order to understand the effects of early life intellectual enrichment on late life outcomes including cognition. She is now postdoctoral research at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, Caen, France) where she continues research on this topic also using FDG-PET and amyloid-PET imaging.  

During his stage at the BBSLab he investigated the connectivity pattern reconfiguration of brain networks induced by non-invasive brain stimulation. In this line, his experimental studies were focused on analyzing the relationship between the putative functional connectivity changes that take place in the reorganization induced by the magnetic/electric stimulation and genetic/personality variables, respectively.

She used tDCS during her PhD to enhance functional connectivity and improve cognitive performance in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Specifically, she assessed the differences in the effects of tDCS applied to prefrontal and temporo-parietal areas on verbal fluency performance and related functional networks in Parkinson’s patients.