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| What are you known for? |
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| Such an interesting question with a lot of layers! (Known to whom?) I guess I'm "known" for developing new methodology for making PET radiotracers and also for the development of PET radiotracers. As one of the leaders in the early days of our MR-PET program, I am perhaps also known for my role in helping with the design, implementation and interpretation of MR-PET scans at the Martinos Center. | For building hardware for combining non-invasive brain stimulation and fMRI |
| How long have you been at the Martinos Center? |
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| My first day was Halloween 2009 so this October will mark 13 years! | A bit more than 5 years… a long time! |
| What was the first major project you worked on when you arrived at the Martinos Center? |
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| My first project (and grant application) was aimed at the development of the first epigenetic imaging probe with the goal being (and remaining) to connect genetic risk to manifest disease by a proxy measure of environmental effects on human life. This concept ultimately (6 years later) led to the creation of the PET radiotracer we named [11C]Martinostat, which allows us to measure class-I histone deacetylases (HDAC) in the human body. | I worked on my PI’s R01, Aapo Nummenmaa, which was an amazing project of developing a multichannel TMS system integrated with a whole head RF coil to enable the use of the multichannel system at the same time as acquiring fmri. |
| What project are you working on right now that is the most challenging and rewarding at the same time? |
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| About a year ago, I became Scientific Director at the Lurie Center for Autism. I'm really excited about bridging the Martinos Center and Lurie Center in new and impactful ways. For example, we're developing new technology for neuroimmune imaging that we will use to study neurodevelopment, but that is likely to also have an impact in neurodegeneration and beyond. I love working on problems at the translational interface, specifically those that are bridging basic biology, chemistry and human imaging or clinical trials. | I have just received my Brain Initiative K99/R00 award and the project is to build what we call the “RF-EEG Cap”. It is going to be a cap to acquire whole head MR images of the brain using flexible technologies. It is integrated with an EEG system and our goal is to finally enable concurrent TMS/EEG/fMRI studies with high sensitivity. It is very rewarding because we have waited almost a year to get the grant due to some delay in my green card process. But now there are no more delays… I have to work on it! |
| Did 20 year old you imagine you would be where you are today?” |
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| No way! At 20 years old, I was learning about polymer and color chemistry at NC State University. The human brain was not on my radar yet! | No, not at all. I was working in Vienna Austria for Siemens programming DSP for communication devices. |
| You go to sleep tonight and you wake up tomorrow and it’s 2084, what does the Martinos Center look like? |
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| First, I'd be delighted that I lived to the age of over 100! Second, I'd be dismayed that I missed 60+ years of life in a coma. Once that shock subsided, I suspect I would not recognize the Martinos Center or MGH. Neuroimaging would be at point where we had a full model connecting neurochemistry to circuit function to hemodynamics and ultimately to human behavior and experience. Through this knowledge and capability, the Martinos Center would be able to predict from imaging the best treatment to help patients. Rather than study and describe disease abnormalities, we'd be more fully part of the precision medicine process. Our ability to measure new aspects of human biology would be driven by the tremendous advances in gene engineering and drug delivery methods. We would be at the edge of understanding human consciousness (if we had not cracked that already) and we would be able to understand individual variability in perception. We'd be unlocking the subjective "rules" of human experience. | Ufff … I do not know if there will be anything in the area with the global warming ☹. But I hope the center is still a multidisciplinary center which has kept making key contributions to understanding the brain in health and disease. |
| Transitioning to some questions written in true "inside-out” fashion What is one thing about you that people would be really surprised to know? |
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| My first three jobs were Taco Bell, Fuddruckers and Woody's Barbeque where I worked as a "pit cook". Maybe it's for the same reason I love chemistry, but I love to cook and while those restaurants were not the culinary training ground of great chefs (which I am not), they each provided in their own way a place to experiment with food and flavor. I love to cook but don't love following recipes. I like to play with flavors, sometimes with great success and sometimes not! Cooking is like being in a chemistry lab but more dangerous (hot oil with no safety glasses!) and without some tools that should really make it to the kitchen (e.g. magnetic stir bar and plates.) | That I am already a grandmother of two boys 😊 |
| If you could take off tomorrow with no guilt or concern about work not getting done or worrying about extending deadlines and all of your domestic responsibilities were magically taken care of too, what would you do, how would you spend that time? | |
| I would probably sleep in, go for a long bike ride or hike, nap and then go fishing until dusk. I might design a molecule in there at some point too! | I love to walk on the beach. Even though New England ocean water is too cold for a Mediterranean woman, I enjoy walking on the beach, just having my feet in the cold water! |
