Received her PhD in Neurosciences (2007) at the University of PM Curie under the supervision of Prof Séverine Samson and Dr Dominique Hasboun. During her graduate training, she focused on the role of the hippocampus (MRI, MEEG) in episodic memory and timing (cognitive neuroscience & neuropsychology) in healthy participants and temporal epileptic patients. Her PhD work proposed a volumetric anaysis of mesiotemporal structures. In 2010, she integrated NeuroSpin and joined the UNIACT Unit. In 2014, she obtained her HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches; highest degree achievable in France). She currently supervises the HippoMnesis Group in the UNIACT team.

My main projects are:
(1) Neuroimaging of episodic memory development during childhood (MemoDev). Started in 2016, the project aims to determine HSF in relation with the development of EM (4-12 yrs). During childhood, there would be a differential and specific maturation of the HSF which would allow an improvement in memory capacities, with the emergence of EM around 8 years of age. We showed that HSF contribute distinctively during the development of EM. This project continues with the study of children suffering from neonatal hypoxia, a form of early aggression of the hippocampus likely to affect the development of episodic memory (PhD student: A. Bouyeure, funding: Univ. Paris Cité, Fondation de France).

(2) A Fast and Robust Hippocampal Subfields Segmentation (HSF). Started in October 2020, the project is based on multimodal Deep Learning processing in MRI including structural MRI, and resting-state functional MRI, in order to characterize the anatomo-functional developmental dynamics of HSF related to the emergence of EM memory (PhD student: C. Poiret, funding: Univ. Paris Cité, Fondation de France).

(3) Breath-hold divers: a relevant model to test adaptability of Hippocampal formation to Hypoxia? (HippoXia). While hypoxia has damaging effects on the nervous system, performance of breath-hold (BH) free-divers suggests that the brain readily adapts to low oxygen supplies. Apnea sports constitute a natural model to study the effects of repeated hypoxic exposure on brain function in healthy individuals. The HSF, crucial for EM, is highly sensitive to hypoxia. Lactate produced during hypoxia could promote neurogenesis and contribute to compensatory mechanisms in BH-divers. Started in 2022, this project aims to compare HSF, and memory performance in BH-divers vs. no BH-divers to investigate adaptive mechanisms following prolonged and repeated exposure to controlled hypoxia at distinct time points during training. This will open the way to therapeutic strategies for neurological conditions, such as neonatal hypoxia (PhD student, J. Micaux, J. Allinger, funding: ANR-2022, CFR-CEA).