Home Department: Human Biology
Mentor: Hadi Hosseini, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

“Prefrontal Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Metabolites in Mild Cognitive Impairment”

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a transient state between the cognitive effects of normal aging and those of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The identification of a biomarker of MCI would be useful for tracking an individual’s development from pre-AD to AD. Lauren will analyze data on cognitive abilities and neurometabolite concentrations, hoping to establish whether there is a relationship between MCI, neurometabolite concentrations in the prefrontal cortex, and cognitive abilities. This work will add to a larger, ongoing clinical trial funded by the National Institute on Aging that examines the effect of long-term cognitive training on neurocognitive function in patients with MCI versus healthy older adults.