About me
Aurélie Bussy, PhD
Postdoctoral researcher
Inselspital
University of Bern, Switzerland
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Inselspital in Bern, Switzerland, working with Dr. Bogdan Draganski. Previously, I completed a postdoctoral researcher at the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, in the neuroimaging laboratory LREN. I earned my PhD from McGill University, in the Computational Brain Anatomy laboratory at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute under the supervision of Dr M. Mallar Chakravarty.
My primary research focus is investigating brain changes in both healthy aging and pathological aging, such as in Alzheimer’s disease, through advanced multi-contrast MRI techniques. Specifically, I use quantitative and diffusion MRI, combined with multivariate analysis, to gain deeper insights into the brain’s microstructural alterations during aging and disease progression.
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RESEARCH
10/2024 - now
Postdoctoral research with Dr. Bogdan Draganski at the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland.
My project focuses on assessing white matter microstructural integrity in the aging brain using advanced quantitative and diffusion MRI techniques.
10/2023 - 10/2024
Postdoctoral research with Dr. Bogdan Draganski at the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, in the neuroimaging laboratory LREN. My project is focused on examining the effects of white matter hyperintensities in aging and their influence on the broader brain integrity.
01/2019 - 07/2023
PhD in Neuroscience with Dr. Mallar Chakravarty at the Douglas Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. I investigated the brain in physiological and pathological aging using multi-contrast imaging techniques.
Jan-May 2018
Internship with Pr Joachim Mazere at the Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine (INCIA), Bordeaux University, France. In vivo positron emission tomography imaging was used to study the cerebellar cholinergic innervation using [18F]-FEOBV.
Feb-June 2017
Internship with Pr John C. Morris at the Knight Alzheimer's disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine in Saint-Louis, Missouri, USA. I investigated the effect of
Apolipoprotein E4 on clinical, neuroimaging and biomarker measures in non-carrier participants in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network.
Jan-Feb 2016
Internship with Pr Chrystalina Antoniades at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, England. I studied deep brain stimulation procedures to treat Parkinson's disease (PD) and the impact of PD on the control of saccadic eye movements.
April-July 2014
Internship with Pr. Alison Small at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Armidale, Australia. I worked on a project evaluating cognitive abilities of newborn lambs, measured by assessing their responses to maternal vocalization.
Education
01/2019 - 10/2023
PhD in Neuroscience - McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Neuroimaging, magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative MRI, image processing, neurodegenerative disease, hippocampus, multivariate statistical analyses, cognition
09/2017 - 06/2018
Master's degree in BioMedical Imaging - Bordeaux University, Bordeaux, France
Magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, multimodal imaging, ultrasound imaging, optical imaging
09/2015 - 06/2017
Master's degree in Neuroscience - Bordeaux University, Bordeaux, France
Neuroplasticity, neuropathology, cognitive neuroscience, physiology of neural networks, integrative neurobiology, molecular endocrinology and ionic channel, cellular differentiation and functional specialisation
09/2014 - 06/2015
Bachelor's degree in Physiology - Lyon University, Lyon, France
Neurophysiology, cardiorespiratory physiology, digestive and energetic physiology, ecophysiology, uro-genital physiology, cellular biology, microbiology
09/2012 - 06/2014
Two-year university degree in Biology - Picardie Jules-Verne University, Amiens , France
Biotechnology, biochemistry, bioenergetics, molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, cellular biology, agronomy, agrophysiology, agrosystem, biology engineering, mathematics, physics, statistics
Publication
Published
Parkinson's disease CA2-CA3 hippocampal atrophy is accompanied by increased cholinergic innervation in patients with normal cognition but not in patients with mild cognitive impairment
Legault-Denis C, Aumont E, Onuska KM, Schmitz TW, Bussy A, Chakravarty MM, Soucy JP, Bédard MA
Brain Imaging and Behaviour, 2024.
Hippocampal subfield associations with memory depend on stimulus modality and retrieval mode.
Aumont E, Bussy A, Bedard MA, Bezgin G, Therriault J, Savard M, Arias JF, Sziklas V, Vitali P, Poltronetti NM, Pallen V, Thomas E, Gauthier S, Chakravarty MM, Kobayashi E, Rosa-Neto P.
Brain Communications, 2023.
Assessment of white matter hyperintensity severity using multimodal MRI in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Parent O, Bussy A, Devenyi GA, Dai A, Costantino M, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Tardif CL, Dadar M, the PREVENT-AD Research Group, Chakravarty MM.
Brain Communications, 2023.
Cerebellar and subcortical atrophy contribute to psychiatric symptoms in frontotemporal dementia.
Bussy A, Levy J, Best T, Patel R, Cupo L, Langenhove TV, Nielsen J, Pijnenburg Y, Waldö ML, Remes A, Schroeter ML, Santana I, Pasquier F, Otto M, Danek A, Levin J, Le Ber I, Vandenberghe R, Synofzik M, Moreno F, de Mendonça A, Sanchez-Valle R, Laforce R, Langheinrich T, Gerhard A, Graff C, Butler CR, Sorbi S, Jiskoot L, Seelaar H, van Swieten JC, Finger E, Carmela Tartaglia M, Masellis M, Tiraboschi P, Galimberti D, Borroni B, Rowe JB, Bocchetta M, Rohrer JD, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM, Ducharme S.
Human Brain Mapping. 2023.
Parent O, Olafson E, Bussy A, Tullo S, Blostein N, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Tardif CL, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM.
Human Brain Mapping. 2023.
Hippocampal shape across the healthy lifespan and its relationship with cognition.
Bussy A, Patel R, Plitman E, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Kazazian C, Tardif CL, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM.
Neurobiol Aging. 2021.
Bussy A, Plitman E, Patel R, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Kazazian C, Tardif CL, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM.
Neuroimage. 2021
Propagating Uncertainty Across Cascaded Medical Imaging Tasks For Improved Deep Learning Inference.
Mehta R, Christinck T, Nair T, Bussy A, Premasiri S, Costantino M, Chakravarty M, Arnold DL, Gal Y, Arbel T.
IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2021
Plitman E, Bussy A, Valiquette V, Salaciak A, Patel R, Cupo L, Béland ML, Tullo S, Tardif CL, Rajah MN, Near J, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM.
Neuroimage. 2021
Bussy A, Snider BJ, Coble D, Xiong C, Fagan AM, Cruchaga C, Benzinger TLS, Gordon BA, Hassenstab J, Bateman RJ, Morris JC; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network.
Neurobiol Aging. 2019
In revision
Bussy A, Patel R, Parent O, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Tullo S, Picard C, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Breitner JCS, Devenyi GA, Tardif CL, Chakravarty MM
Neurobiol Aging. 2024
Cognitive-and lifestyle-related microstructural variation in the ageing human hippocampus
Agyekum T, García CL, Fay F, Parent O, Bussy A, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM
Brain Structure and Function. 2024
PRESENTATIONS
INVITED TALKS
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Bussy A. "Introduction to quantitative MRI"; 2/10/2024 ; Local lecture. Invited by the Cerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health Institute, Montreal, Canada.
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Bussy A. "Investigation of the hippocampus in physiological and pathological aging using multi-contrast and multi-modal imaging techniques"; 22/02/2023; Local lecture. Invited by the Cerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health Institute, Montreal, Canada.
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Bussy A. "Investigation of the hippocampus in physiological and pathological aging using multi-contrast and multi-modal imaging techniques" ; 18/11/2022; International lecture. Invited by the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging at the Ohio State University.
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Bussy A. “Hippocampal volume and shape in aging; Methodological considerations”. IPN retreat 2021; 04/10/2021; Local conference within McGill University. Invited by Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve.
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Bussy A. “Effects of MR sequence on hippocampal subfield volumes and relationship between hippocampal shape and age.” Hippocampal Subfield Group; 28/04/2021; International webinar. Invited by Dr Kelsey Canada.
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Bussy A, Guma E, Cupo L, Patel R. “Overview of multivariate analysis methods in Neuroimaging”; 07/10/2020; Lecture at the Cerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health Institute, Montreal, Canada. Invited by Dr Mallar Chakravarty
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Bussy A. “Applying MAGeT Brain for volumetric segmentation: a hands;on tutorial”. Montreal Aging & Dementia Conference; 26/12/2019; International conference at Montreal, Canada. Invited by Dr Natasha Rajah.
ORAL
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Bussy A, Patel R, Parent O, Salaciak A, Farzin S, Tullo S, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Breitner JCS, Devenyi GA, PREVENT-AD Research Group, Tardif CL, Chakravarty MM. "Multivariate analysis of morphometric and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging metrics in aging and Alzheimer's disease". Quantitative MRI conference 2022. Virtual presentation.
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Bussy A, Patel R, Salaciak A, Farzin S, Tullo S, Pelleieux S, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Breitner JCS, Devenyi GA, PREVENT-AD Research Group, Tardif CL, Chakravarty MM. “Multivariate analysis of morphometric and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging metrics in aging and Alzheimer’s disease”; Quebec Bio-imaging Network 2022 ; Sherbrooke.
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Bussy A, Plitman E, Patel R, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Kazazian C, Tardif CL, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “Hippocampal subfield volumes across the healthy lifespan and the effects of MR sequence on estimates”; 2021 Leo and Rachel Hendlisz Award competition.
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Bussy A, Levy J, Patel R, Cupo L, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM, Ducharme S, on behalf of the GENetic Frontotemporal dementia Initiative (GENFI). “Cerebellar and subcortical volumes are associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms in genetic frontotemporal dementia”; Douglas Research Day 2021; Local conference
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Palmis S, Easson K, Bussy A, Gilbert G, Khairy M, Saint-Martin C, Chakravarty MM, Brossard-Racine M. “Altered Cerebellar volume in youth born very preterm”. 7th Annual Child Health and Human Development Research Day, Online (November, 12, 2021), Oral.
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Bussy A, Patel R, Plitman E, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “Comparing the impact of T1; and T2-weighted acquisition on automated hippocampal subfield volume estimates”; SFN 2019, Chicago, US; International conference
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Bussy A, Patel R, Plitman E, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. "The evolution of the hippocampus subfields volume across lifespan in healthy aging". Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2019 meeting, Montreal, Canada; International conference
POSTER
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Bussy A, Wearn A, Patel R, Baracchini G, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Breitner JCS, Devenyi GA, Spreng RN and Chakravarty MM. "Cortical quantitative MRI metrics are sensitive to amyloid and tau PET in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease"; OHBM 2023
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Parent O, Bussy A, Devenyi GA, Pigeau G, Costantino M, Tardif CL, Dadar M, Chakravarty MM. "Spatial clustering of white matter hyperintensities based on their microstructural properties" ; OHBM 2023
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Bussy A, Wearn A, Patel R, Baracchini G, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Breitner JCS, Devenyi GA, Spreng RN and Chakravarty MM. "Cortical quantitative MRI metrics are sensitive to amyloid and tau PET in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease"; HBHL 2023
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Legault-Denis C, Aumont E, Onuska K, Schmitz T, Bussy A, Chakravarty M, Soucy JP, Bedard MA. "Bilateral cholinergic upregulation associated with CA2-CA3 hippocampal atrophy in cognitively unimpaired patients with Parkinson's disease: A combined MRI-PET study."; ADPD 2023
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Parent O, Bussy A, Devenyi GA, Dai A, Costantino M, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Tardif CL, Dadar M, Chakravarty MM. "Multimodal assessment of white matter hyperintensity severity". SfN 2022, San Diego, United States ; International conference
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Bussy A, Patel R, Salaciak A, Farzin S, Tullo S, Pelleieux S, Villeneuve S, Poirier J, Breitner JCS, Devenyi GA, PREVENT-AD Research Group, Tardif CL, Chakravarty MM. “Multivariate analysis of morphometric and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging metrics in aging and Alzheimer’s disease”; ISMRM 2022, London, UK; International conference
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Aumont E, Bussy A, Bezgin G, Savard M, Therriault J, Chakravarty MM, Bedard MA, Rosa-Neto P. "Early visual memory loss in AD pathology continuum are predicted by specific lateralized hippocampal subfield atrophy". ADPD 2022
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Bussy A, Levy J, Chakravarty MM, Ducharme S, on behalf of the GENFI; “Cerebellar lobule volumes and neuropsychiatric symptoms in genetic frontotemporal dementia.”; American Neuropsychiatric Association 2021
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Parent O, Olafson E, Bussy A, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Valiquette V, Tardif CL, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “Comparing age trajectories of MRI cortical markers and myelin”; SfN 2021
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Premasiri S, Bussy A, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM “Cascaded 3D U;Net Model for Fast Automatic Segmentation of the Hippocampus”; OHBM 2021; International conference
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Costantino M, Pigeau G, Bussy A, Blostein N, Devenyi GA, Markello R, Patel R, Gervais N, Chakravarty MM. “Effects of pregnancy, and lifestyle risk factors on cortical thickness in healthy ageing”; OHBM 2021
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Palmis S, Easson K, Bussy A, Gilbert G, Khairy M, Saint-Martin C, Chakravarty MM, Brossard-Racine M. “Altered Cerebellar volume in youth born very preterm”. Congrès provincial de la recherche mère-enfant, Online (November 5, 2021), Poster.
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Bussy A, Levy J, Chakravarty MM, Ducharme S, on behalf of the GENFI. “Investigation of the cerebellar lobule volumes and neuropsychiatric symptoms in genetic FTD.”; SfN 2020; International conference
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Bussy A, Plitman E, Patel R, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “Volumetric, shape and microstructural alterations of the hippocampal subfields in healthy aging”. Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2020, Amsterdam, Netherlands; International conference
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Bussy A, Plitman E, Patel R, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “Volumetric, shape and microstructural alterations of the hippocampal subfields in healthy aging”. Alzheimer's Imaging Consortium (AIC) 2020, Amsterdam, Netherlands; International conference
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Bussy A, Plitman E, Valiquette V, Karzazian C, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “Impact of commonly used acquisition sequences on automated hippocampal subfield volume estimates”; OHBM 2020, Montréal, Canada
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Plitman E, Bussy A, Valiquette V, Salaciak A, Rajah N, Near J, Devenyia GA, Chakravarty MM. “Test;retest reliability of cortical thickness and structure volume in volumetric navigator sequences.” OHBM 2020, Canada
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Bussy A, Snider JB, Coble D, Xiong C, Fagan AM, Cruchaga C, Benzinger TLS, Gordon BA, Hassenstab J, Bateman RJ and Morris JC on behalf of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network. “Effect of apolipoprotein E4 on clinical, neuroimaging, and biomarker measures in noncarrier participants in the DIAN study”; DIAD conference 2019, Los Angeles, US; International conference
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Bussy A, Plitman E, Patel R, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “The evolution of the hippocampus subfields volume across lifespan in healthy aging”; IPN retreat 2019, Montreal, Canada; Local conference
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Bussy A, Plitman E, Patel R, Tullo S, Salaciak A, Bedford SA, Farzin S, Béland ML, Devenyi GA, Chakravarty MM. “The evolution of the hippocampus subfields volume across lifespan in healthy aging”; Neurosymposium 2019, Montreal, Local conference
Quebec Bio-Imaging Network award
Travel award to attend ISMRM 2023 in Toronto, Canada.
2023/06 - 500$ CAD
ISMRM Educational Stipend
Travel award to attend ISMRM 2023 in Toronto, Canada.
2023/06 - 575$ US
Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives fellowship
Graduate Student Fellowship competition.
2022-09 to 2023-09 - 15,000$ CAD
Quebec Bio-Imaging Network mentorship award
QBIN CEGEP Mentorship Grant Program
2022-07 to 2022-08 - 1,500$ CAD
Quebec Bio-Imaging Network award
Travel award to attend ISMRM 2022 in London, UK.
2022/05 - 500$ CAD
ISMRM Educational Stipend
Travel award to attend ISMRM 2022 in London, UK.
2022/05 - 575$ US
Leo and Rachel Hendlisz award
Second place for the 2021 Leo and Rachel Hendlisz Award competition with the article entitled "Hippocampal subfield volumes across the healthy lifespan and the effects of MR sequence on estimates"
2021/12 - 500$ CAD
Roger J. Paiement Outreach award
Travel award with the abstract entitled "Volumetric, shape and microstructural alterations of the hippocampal subfields in healthy aging" presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference
2021/01 - 1,000$ CAD
Alzheimer’s Society research program
Third place for the Alzheimer's Society Research Program providing three year of PhD funding
2019/07 to 2022/06 - 66,000$ CAD
Brainhack Western award
Travel award to attend Brainhack Western, London, Ontario, Canada
2019/10 - 1,100$ CAD
Quebec Bio-Imaging Network award
Travel award to attend the Society for Neuroscience 2019, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2019/07 - 500$ CAD
Aquimob award
Travel award for my internship at Saint-Louis, Missouri, USA
2017/01 to 2017/05 - 2,000 €
EXPLO'RA Sup award
Travel award for my internship at Oxford, UK
2016/01 to 2016/02 - 600 €
Aide de mobilité internationale award
Travel award for my internship at Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
2014/04 to 2014/06 - 1,500 €
AWARDS
INITIATIVES
2023 qMRI conference
Conference on quantitative MRI : "Validation of qMRI techniques in neurodegeneration"
Alongside co-organizers Dr Mallar Chakravarty, Dr Christine Tardif, Dr Christopher Rowley, Olivier Parent, Sajjad Feizollah, Mark Nelson
2023-05 to 2023-10
Elaboration of the conference program
Selection and invitation of the keynote speakers
Creation of the logo, website, Twitter account
Application for fundings from QBIN - awarded 2,500$
Review and selection of trainee abstracts
Communication, organization of the conference
2022 qMRI conference
OLAOLA award
Conference on quantitative MRI : "Applications in neurodegeneration"
Alongside co-organizers Dr Mallar Chakravarty, Dr Christine Tardif, Dr Christopher Rowley and Olivier Parent
2022-05 to 2022-10
Elaboration of the conference program
Creation of the logo, website, Twitter account
Application for fundings from QBIN - awarded 2,250$
Review and selection of trainee abstracts
Communication, organization of the conference
Competition aiming at promoting students based on their reasearch excellence and supporting equity and diversity at the Douglas research centre.
2022-01 to 2022-06
Elaboration of the award idea and values
Collaboration with OLAOLA to obtain fundings for three awards of 750$
Creation of the competition guidelines
Organization of the astract submission
Selection of the reviewers and managing the review process
Communication of the competition
TEACHING
2022-09 to 2022-11
Teacher Assistant - Dr Mallar Chakravarty - NEUR602 class
Multi-Modal Brain Atlases
Overview of the history of neuroimaging atlas, from the pionneer's atlases (Brodmann, Vogt) to more recent multi-modal atlases (Glasser, 2016).
Quantitative MRI
Basic MRI physics, including the longitudinal and transversal relaxation. Understand the difference and advantages of quantitative MRI versus weigthed scans.
2022-06 to 2022-08
QBIN mentor of two CEGEP students from Dawson College
The project was to investigate the myelin in aging and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease progression. In this project, we sought to use an MRI biomarker of myelin to characterize individuals across the disease spectrum: from healthy aging individuals, to individuals with mild cognitive impairment or AD dementia.
2021-09 to 2021-11
Teacher Assistant - Dr Mallar Chakravarty - NEUR602 class
Multi-Modal Brain Atlases
Overview of the history of neuroimaging atlas, from the pionneer's atlases (Brodmann, Vogt) to more recent multi-modal atlases (Glasser, 2016).
Quantitative MRI
Basic MRI physics, including the longitudinal and transversal relaxation. Understand the difference and advantages of quantitative MRI versus weigthed scans.
SKILLS
Programming
R, matlab, python, conda, SAS, bash, git, high performance computing
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NeuroImaging tools
ANTs, RMINC, hMRI toolbox, MAGeT, CIVET, minc-bpipe library, FSL, ASHS, HIPS, nighres, MEDI toolbox, DBM, SEPIA, qMRLab, Display
Multivariate statistics
Language
Fluent in English and French