Associated Lab Members
Dr. Lidia Glodzik is the head of the VAscular RIsk in Alzheimer’s disease (VARIA) lab. She completed her residency training in neurology at the University Hospital in Krakow, Poland, where she worked in a stroke unit. She holds a Ph.D. in medical sciences from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her Ph.D. thesis dealt with metabolic changes in post-stroke mood disorders measured with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. She subsequently trained and worked in the New York University Center for Brain Health with Dr. Mony de Leon, a pioneer in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) imaging, on projects related to the prediction of dementia in healthy individuals. Dr. Glodzik employs magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging techniques as well as biofluids to investigate early indicators of cognitive decline.
Surendra Maharjan, Ph.D., obtained a doctorate from the Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, under the Tokyo Human Resources City Diplomacy Scholarship Program. Maharjan received Magnetic Resonance Elastography training in Japan and joined the Indiana University School of Medicine for postdoctoral training. Since then, he has been investigating microstructural and connectivity changes in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models using high-resolution diffusion MRI, honing his expertise in MRI physics, neuroimaging analysis, and applying advanced computational methods in understanding neurological disorders.
At Weill Cornell Medicine, Maharjan processes MR images, including, but not limited to, structural, perfusion, TOF-angio, SWI, and QSM, to extract brain vasculature and tissue property imaging features. He also assists in qualitatively analyzing multimodal images (PET, MRI), proposing experimental designs, and writing manuscripts. Maharjan's research investigates vascular risk factors on brain structure, cerebral blood flow, brain clearance, and the anatomy of cerebral vessels. He's also involved in quantitatively assessing ischemic and neurodegenerative changes in brain aging.
Christopher Mardy received his B.S in biology from the State University of New York, Albany, and later went on to receive his MBS. in biomedical science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Christopher is currently pursuing a degree in nursing, with the hope of furthering his research experience with the aging population.
The VARIA (VAscular RIsk In Alzheimer's disease) Lab has described how hypertension (HTN) impairs cerebral blood flow (CBF) (which precedes cognitive decline), and the link between blood pressure and CBF. The lab has shown that, in subjects with hypertension, but not in normotensive individuals, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and CBF, suggesting there is a blood pressure value in HTN that maximizes perfusion. This value was close to 125 mmHg for systolic blood pressure. Our longitudinal data confirmed this sweet spot, showing that moving away from the optimum SBP in both low and high BP directions was related to CBF reduction. Furthermore, we find that there is a blood pressure level where white matter lesion (WML) burden, a common manifestation of ischemic injury in hypertension and AD, is smallest. Most interestingly, the local maximum of the inverted U-shape curve for CBF, and the local minimum of the U-shaped curve for WML volume, are almost identical: around mid-120 systolic blood pressure. These findings support the existence of an ideal therapeutic target blood pressure maximizing brain function and minimizing damage.
Awards or Grants: (R01) National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Hypertension (HTN) is associated with impaired cerebral vasoreactivity (VR) and flow autoregulation, which may result in greater dependence of cerebral blood flow (CBF) on perfusion pressure. Verifying this hypothesis...
In hypertension, cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation limits are changed, and the threshold for blood pressure (BP) at which perfusion is safely maintained is higher. This shift may increase the brain's vulnerability to lower blood...
Awards and Awards: R01, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Reduced clearance of brain waste has emerged as a possible factor underlying neurodegeneration. Although it has long been hypothesized that vascular conditions may reduce the brain’s clearance capacity (...
The Glodzik Lab plans to expand upon their past work describing an optimal blood pressure target, focusing on incomplete variants of the circle of Willis (CoW). The lab's data indicate that incomplete variants play a role in circumstances when there is already a pre-existing impairment of the vascular system. This...
