Lab members
– Team leader –
Gaël Chételat
I am very proud to lead this fantastic team, to see all the different characters, cultures, backgrounds and functions to form a harmonious entity guided by a common motivation and all working with enthusiasm and energy in the same direction.
– Research | Post-doc –
Géraldine Rauchs
I am collaborating with Gaël for several years. I am a sleep scientist in the research unit NIMH (Inserm U1077). I am interested in the role of sleep in memory consolidation and the impact of sleep disturbances on structural, functional and molecular brain alterations.
In the AGEWELL project, I am responsible of sleep examinations and I co-supervise with Gaël two PhD students (Valentin Ourry and Pierre Champetier). We work in close interaction with the Sleep department of the University Hospital and with the neuroimaging experts of Gaël’s team.
Anne-Lise Pitel
I have been working on the effect of chronic and heavy alcohol consumption on brain and cognition for almost 20 years. I have significantly contributed to the understanding of the cognitive and brain pathophysiology of alcohol use disorder and Korsakoff’s syndrome.
I now aim at setting-up and testing non-pharmacological intervention protocols to improve cognitive abilities and to favor the reduction of alcohol consumption or abstinence in patients with alcohol use disorder. By joining Gaël’s lab, I plan to extend my investigations to older subjects with alcohol use disorder in order to determine the contribution of alcohol consumption to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.
Géraldine Poisnel
Leader of the work-package management of EU-funded Silver Santé Study and project manager on a large longitudinal multimodal neuroimaging multicentre project, I have an ideal background as I graduated in Project Management and previously worked on neuroimaging biomarkers and Alzheimer’s Disease in Pharma industry and during my PhD in Biology-Pharmacology.
Adept of the multitasking, I work also on the biological aspects with a special focus to uncover mechanisms underlying age-related changes in brain using blood markers.
Robin De Flores
I’m interested in characterizing medial temporal lobe (MTL) alterations in normal and pathological aging. More precisely, I use and develop neuroimaging tools, including structural and functional MRI, to better understand how MTL structures and networks are affected by different conditions.
I did my PhD, entitled “Structural, functional and molecular alterations of hippocampal subfields and their networks in normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease”, under the supervision of Gaël Chételat from 2013 to 2016. I then moved to Philadelphia for a two-year postdoc to continue exploring the MTL with Dr David Wolk and Dr Paul Yushkevich. I came back to Caen in January 2020, riding a seahorse.
Julie Gonneaud
After a PhD in Psychology under the supervision of Dr Béatrice Desgranges (Inserm U923, Caen), a first postdoc in Dr Gaël Chételat’s lab and a second postdoctoral experience in Dr Sylvia Villeneuve’s lab (Douglas Research Institute/McGill University; Montreal, Canada), I returned to Chételat’s lab in November 2019 as a postdoctoral researcher. I use multimodal neuroimaging to further understand the physiopathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the factors that could influence the risk of developing AD in cognitively unimpaired individuals. My work will mainly focus on the influence of lifestyle factors (e.g. cognitive, physical and social activity, diet) on AD brain and cognitive markers and how these factors can interact with other risk factors (e.g. sex, genetics) to modulate AD risk.
Daniel Roquet
I aim to disentangle the complexity of the brain changes in dementia and normal ageing and their association with behavioural and cognitive impairments. To achieve this goal, I combined multimodal imaging in a longitudinal approach. I started my post-doctoral research at the University of Strasbourg (ICube laboratory, Integrative multimodal imaging for health Team), focusing on dementia with lewy bodies, before I relocated to the University of Sydney (Frontier Research Clinic, MIND team) where I pursued my research in Frontotemporal dementia and normal ageing. I joined Chételat’s lab in May 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher to investigate the relationship between brain perfusion, amyloid burden and white matter lesions, based on multimodal MRI and PET imaging.
– Research | Phd Student –
Edelweiss Touron
I joined the Chételat’s lab since my internships of a master’s degree in neurosciences and behavioural sciences in 2017. I am currently a PhD Student supervised by Gaël Chételat and Géraldine Poisnel (2018-2021). The aim of my project is to better understand the links between subclinical depressive symptoms and neuroimaging and blood biomarkers in ageing and to assess the impact of the 18-month mental training of meditation on depressive symptoms and their different substrates.
Cassandre Palix
Hi, I’m a PhD student under the supervision of Géraldine Poisnel and Gaël Chételat (UMR-S 1237).
My really cool thesis project aims at understanding the impact of mental training (meditation and English learning) on the allostatic load (a cumulative measure of different blood biomarkers), an index of successful aging! I also take part in data acquisition.
Francesca Felisatti
I joined the team in 2018 as a research assistant in the Age-Well project, and I am now doing my PhD on the interactions between lifestyle factors (e.g., cognitive, physical and social activities) and brain markers of Alzheimer’s disease. My interest lies in understanding how modifiable factors such as environment and lifestyle impact brain structure and function, and how they can be targeted to delay cognitive decline in healthy aging as well as in neurodegenerative diseases.
Pierre Champetier
Since September 2019, I have been a PhD student under the supervision of Géraldine Rauchs (Inserm U1077 NIMH). I would like to see if meditation practice can help to preserve sleep quality, and if this can help to prevent cognitive and brain alterations due to aging.
Sacha Haudry
Hi, I joined the team in 2018 as an intern for my master degree and I am now working as a research assistant before beginning my PhD next year.
My project aims at understanding the impact of a meditation practice on the brain of healthy older adults by measuring its changes in volume, metabolism, amyloid deposits and functional connectivity.
Léa Chauveau
I joined Gaël Chételat’s team during a master 2 internship and will now start a PhD thesis under the supervision of Robin de Flores using Silver Santé Study longitudinal data. This thesis mainly focuses on functional connectivity of medial temporal lobe networks and its links with modifiable life factors and biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. It also aims to investigate the effects of both meditation and English practice on this functional integrity and how these potential changes translate from an emotional and cognitive point of view.
Jade Lasserve
I joined the team for my master 2 internship. I am using Silver Santé Study MRI data to distinguish two medial temporal lobe networks. This internship completes my computer science engineering and medical imaging master studies.
Anaïs Hamel
I joined the Chételat’s lab since October 2021 for my PhD thesis under
the supervision of Dr Géraldine Rauchs. I will investigate the impact of meditation practice on sleep quality and memory consolidation in older adults.
Neuroimaging is a totally new field for me, and I will focus my analyses on resting-state functional connectivity. During my thesis, I will be co-supervised by Dr Alison Mary (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium).
Anne-Laure Turpin
Hi, graduated with a Master’s degree Neuroscience-Neurobiology, I joined the Chételat’s Lab in January 2022 to carry out a thesis project under the supervision of Julie Gonneaud (UMR-S 1237).
The main goal of my project is to study the influence of lifestyle factors on cognition as well as biomarkers of healthy aging and Alzheimer’s disease. This project requires the use of new techniques for me and it will allow to learn more about this link between neurodegenerative diseases and lifestyle impact and how it can prevent them.
Natacha Lambert
Hello ! I joined Gaël Chételat’s team in September 2021 as a software engineer. I worked on recreating FDG PET with other images, like MRIs and early PET AV45 with image analysis and deep learning.
I started my PhD thesis in computer science under the supervision of Gaël Chételat (PhIND), Abderrahim Elmoataz (GREYC) and the company Forlabs since March 2022. My research focuses on Alzheimer’s disease with the Agewell and IMAP databases, in particular to build algorithms to predict Alzheimer’s disease and to help the patient’s follow-up.
– Clinicians –
Vincent de La Sayette
Principal Investigator
I am neurologist, hospital physician, associate professor of neurology at the University of Caen and responsible of the CMRR (Center of Memory) of Caen.
There are more than 25 years old that I have a consulting activity specialized in the field of cognitive disorders.
Anne Chocat
I am a medical biologist from Caen, with a liberal and hospitable experience. During my postgraduate training, I felt the relevance of a therapeutic approach through meditation and mindfulness (MBSR courses – MBCI certificate – Mindfulness Based on Compassion and Insight -, Medicine Meditation and Neuroscience).
In order to contribute to the scientific recognition of all the benefits of meditation, I joined the Gaël Chételat’s team as a co-investigator in the Age-Well study (I am the non-geek of team).
Marion Delarue
I’m working as a neuropsychologist and I joined the team in June 2017.
I take part in the passing of the neuropsychological tests in the framework of two research projects: the IMAP (Longitudinal Study in Multimodal Imaging of Alzheimer’s Disease at an Early Stage) and the Silver Santé Study, a European study on aging well.
Oriane Hebert
I joined the team in May 2021 as a neuropsychologist. I’m mainly involved in data acquisition using cognitive evaluations and questionnaires for the Age-Well Project, a European study on aging well. At times, I’m also led to work on the IMAP Project (Longitudinal Study in Multimodal Imaging of Alzheimer’s Disease at an Early Stage).
– Clinical and research staff –
Brigitte Landeau
I am engineer in developing applications in our lab and mainly in Gaël’s team since 2008. I implement new innovative methods of processing and analysis in multimodal neuroimaging, mainly in resting-state fMRI. I study the alteration of functional connectivity at rest and links with atrophy, hypometabolism, and amyloid deposits in Alzheimer’s disease.
I am responsible for training members of the unit to these techniques. I interact with common services in Imaging and Computer of GIP Cyceron.
Florence Mezenge
I’m working as a research assistant Gaël’s team, INSERM U1237, since 2002.
My main role is to coordinate the technical aspects of both IMAP and Age-Well studies. I am also responsible for the acquisition of the imaging data, including both MRI and PET scans.
I am in interaction with the neuroimaging platform of Cyceron and work in close interaction with Brigitte Landeau, for the development of neuroimaging data processing techniques.
Séverine Fauvel
I joined the team in November 2019 as a clinical research technician for Age-Well. I mainly accompany the participants of the study in their examinations (MRI, blood tests, etc) and collect the data.
Emma Bauge
My name is Emma and I have a Bachelor degree in Biology – Health Sciences. I currently work on the AGEWELL Project in Gaël Chételat’s team as a biologist in data treatment. I analyze users data but am also responsible for its acquisition and entry.
– Administrative staff –
Aurélia Cognet
Administrative for the Team C since October 2015, I am taking care of the administrative part of the Age-Well study.
I am particularly concerned with the organization of missions, meetings, recruitment files, purchases, and protocol compensation.
Valérie Lefranc
In the team since 2016, as a clinical research assistant for the Age-Well project, my mission was to welcome, organise and plan the volunteers’ appointments as well as to accompany them in their examinations and to collect data.
My second mission as a communication officer is to participate in the writing and production of communication materials, to organise events such as public conferences, press relations, interviews and to update the different websites and social networks of the team.
Since January 2022, I am in charge of the administrative part in relation with the University of Caen: organisation of missions, meetings, recruitment files, purchases and protocol allowances.
Caroline Roatta
Assistant project manager
I am a French-Colombian journalist with a background in public engagement with science and technology (PEST). I joined the Chételat’s lab for my internship of a master’s degree in Management in Health and Social Care. I work for the Silver Santé Study under the supervision of Géraldine Poisnel.
Flora Chaillon
I have a Master’s degree in Internet engineering, I create mobile applications and web sites. And I also teach students, or just curious people !
I’m really glad to join this great team.
My role is to design and develop a meditation application for olders.
Challenge accepted !