People
Andrei Irimia, PhD
Associate Professor of Gerontology, Quantitative & Computational Biology, Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience
Principal Investigator
Education
- Postdoctoral Scholar, multimodal neuroimaging, UCLA, 2013
- Postdoctoral Scholar, human brain mapping, UC San Diego, 2010
- MS, PhD, Biological Physics, Vanderbilt University, 2007
- MS, Computer science, Vanderbilt University, 2004
- BA, Computer Science and Mathematics, Lipscomb University, 2002
Overview
Andrei Irimia, PhD, is a biogerontologist and computational neurobiologist studying the effects of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors on brain aging. His laboratory uses interpretable deep learning, genomics, and brain imaging to identify and characterize novel risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). He also studies accelerated aging, neurovascular calcification, and brain injury as risk factors for ADRD.
Team photo gallery



Members

Nikhil Chaudhari
Nikhil is a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at USC. He has worked on the segmentation of CT scans and on the automatic labeling of CMBs from susceptibility weighted imaging in mTBI patients. He completed his undergraduate majoring in computer science and engineering at VIT University in India, and an MS in computer science at USC.

Nahian Chowdhury
Nahian is a doctoral student in neuroscience with a background in neuroscience and computer science. He is interested in the structural neuroimaging of traumatic brain injury in older adults, in the longitudinal analysis of brain circuitry using diffusion tensor imaging, as well as in machine learning.

Owen Maisel Vega Huerta
Owen is a neuroscience Ph.D. student at USC researching the divergence of localized brain aging in individuals with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and how this may impact their quality of life. Through his work, he hopes to highlight the importance of research in mental health.

Samuel Anderson
Sam is a project assistant whose research centers around the development of novel graph neural network architectures for the analysis of localized, accelerated cortical aging in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Wesleyan University, and in his free time enjoys swimming and reading philosophy.

Nicholas Kim
Nic is a USC Trustee Scholar and Viterbi Fellow studying biomedical engineering. His research explores the genetic determinants of brain aging and neurodegeneration using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and genome-wide association studies.

Fangyun (Cecilia) Liu
Fangyun (Cecilia) is a Ph.D. student in the computational biology and bioinformatics program at USC interested in modeling the calcification of the carotid artery, especially in pre-industrial populations such as the Tsimané. Her research aims to elucidate the mechanisms driving plaque development and its implications.

Haoqing (Terese) Wang
Haoqing (Terese) is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at USC, interested in interpretable deep learning for neuroimaging. Her research focuses on identifying patterns of accelerated aging in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in computational science from Northeastern University.

Risha Surana
Risha is an undergraduate researcher and Trustee Scholar with a background in emergency medicine. Her research focuses on the role of demyelination in health and disease.

Jaron Kawamura
Jaron is an undergraduate student and Presidential Scholar studying biomedical engineering. He is interested in the use of interpretable methods to visualize the effects of modifiable lifestyle factors on accelerated cortical aging.

Jorge Solis-Galvan
Jorge is a Fullbright Scholar, USC Viterbi Dean’s Scholarship recipient, and Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at USC. He earned his bachelor’s in software engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, and is interested in developing the field of healthcare through software.

Sipei Li
Sipei is a doctoral student in biomedical engineering whose research focuses on modeling brain aging in Alzheimer’s disease and investigating its neural correlates through diffusion tensor imaging and deep learning. She earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) and her master’s degree in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Samayan Bhattacharya
Sam is a doctoral student in biomedical engineering with a background in computer science. His research focuses on developing and applying machine learning algorithms to better understand the structural and functional organization of the human brain across different conditions.

Jordan Jomsky
Jordan is a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student researching deep learning brain age models to improve early detection of aging-related pathologies and their clinical outcomes. He received his master’s in data science from Columbia University and his bachelors of arts in data science and molecular & cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Shang Heng Tsai
Shang Heng is a Ph.D. student in neuroscience studying brain aging through genetic and neuroimaging approaches. He received his M.S. in molecular medicine from National Taiwan University and his B.S. in life science from National Chung Hsing University.

Xiao Xu
Xiao is a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at USC who studies neurovascular calcification as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC).
Former Members
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Alexander Maher
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Ammar Dharani
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Anar Amgalan
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Benjamin Hacker
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Chur Tam
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Di Fan
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Dylan Overby
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Elliot Jacobs
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Hyung Jun (Josh) Lee
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Jessica Zhu
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Jun H. Kim
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Kenneth Rostowsky
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Layal Wehbe
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Maria Calvillo
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Michelle Y. Ha
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Phoebe Imms
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Rachel Lin
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Roy Massett
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Sean Lee
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Sean Mahoney
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Shania H. Wang
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Tamara Jafar
- Kevin Guo


