Elena Rodriguez-Vieitez

Elena Rodriguez-Vieitez

Researcher | Docent
Visiting address: BioClinicum J10:20, Visionsgatan 4, 17164 Solna
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Neurogeriatrik Graff, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • Docent in Medical Imaging
    Senior Researcher
    I perform research on multi-modal MRI-PET imaging in Alzheimer’s disease
    (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders in the spectrum of fronto-temporal
    degeneration (FTD)
    *Supervision of **PhD students*
    Nov 2021 – present: Main supervisor of PhD student Mona-Lisa Malarte, KI.
    Date of defense: Oct 2023 (expected)
    Mar 2022 - present: Co-supervisor of PhD student Melissa Taheri, KI.
    Sept 2019 – Oct 2021: Co-supervisor of PhD student Mona-Lisa Malarte, KI.
    Sept 2016 – Dec 2019: Co-supervisor of PhD student Arianna Sala,
    Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
    Jan 2015 – Oct 2018: Co-supervisor of PhD student Antoine Leuzy, KI
    *Supervision of master students and research assistants*
    Feb – May 2018: Main supervisor of Master Thesis Elisa Colato, University
    of Padova, Italy and KI
    Aug 2017 – Jan 2018: Main supervisor of Master Thesis Mariam Mazrina,
    Uppsala University and KI
    Sept 2013 – Jan 2014: Co-supervisor of Master Thesis* *Karen Butina, KI
    Feb - Dec 2018: Supervisor of research assistant Mariam Mazrina, KI
    *Positions*
    Oct 2015 – present: Forskare (Senior Researcher), Dept. Neurobiology, Care
    Sciences and Society (NVS), KI
    May 2020 - present: Member of NVS Department Board, KI, representative of
    Forskare
    Nov 2019 - present: Research Affiliate (non-employee), Harvard Aging Brain
    Study (HABS), Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School,
    Boston, USA
    Mar 2020 – present: Course leader, /"Translational Molecular Brain Imaging
    in Neurodegenerative Disorders"/ (PhD Course number 3231), Doctoral Programme
    in Neuroscience, KI
    Jan 2022 - present: Associate Editor of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
    Sep 2018 – present: Steering Committee member, NeuroPET, Swedish network of
    researchers in PET imaging
    Jan 2018 – present: Organizing team member, “PhD/postdoc seminars, KI
    Div. Clinical Geriatrics and Neurogeriatrics”
    Apr 2016 - Apr 2018: Member of Steering Committee, Junior Faculty, KI
    *Awards*
    Alzheimer’s Association /2021 *De Leon Neuroimaging Prize */*in the Trainee
    category (Arianna Sala)*, for journal article: Sala A, Nordberg A,
    *Rodriguez-Vieitez E**, ** *Molecular Psychiatry 2020, */JIF/*(2020) 15.99
    *2020 Global Mentorship Award, from the EMCC Global Mentor and Coaching
    Association *https://www.emccglobal.org/about_emcc/awards/ [1]
    *Award for excellence in teaching, University of California at Berkeley*:
    2006-2007 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, UC Berkeley
    2013-2014 Wenner-Gren Postdoctoral Fellowship for postdoctoral research at
    Karolinska Institutet,
    2014 Fundación Barrié de la Maza, award to professional research
    trajectory, 26 December
    2013 Young Investigator Award, Human Amyloid Imaging Conference, Miami (USA)
    2008-2009 Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant, Harvard University
    2007-2008 Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant, Stanford University
    2007 Postdoctoral Fellowship Fundación Caja Madrid
    *Research grants*
    2022-2024: Region Stockholm ALF Medicine FoUI-960437
    2022: Alzheimerfonden AF-968569
  • Demensfonden
  • Stohnes
  • KI Fonder
    2021: Alzheimerfonden AF-939647
  • Demensfonden
  • Erik & Edith Fernström
    Foundation for Medical Research
  • KI Fonder
    2020: Alzheimerfonden AF-845821
  • Åke Wiberg Foundation
  • Demensfonden
  • Erik
    & Edith Fernström Foundation for Medical Research
  • Olle Engkvist
    Foundation
  • KI Fonder
    *Conference organizer*
    Spring 2022: Symposium leader at Brain & BrainPET International Conference,
    Glasgow, UK, 28 May – 1 June, 2022, https://brain2022.scot
    Sub-Chair for Neuroinflammation, 16th European Molecular Imaging Meeting
    (EMIM 2021), 24-27 August 2021, https://e-smi.eu/meetings/emim/emim-2021/
    [2]
    Member of Program Committee, SPIE 2021, Emerging Topics in Artificial
    Intelligence, 1-5 August 2021, virtual
    conference, https://spie.org/OP21N/conferencedetails/emerging-topics-in-ai
    [3]
    PhD Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA (2007)
    MS Civil Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA (1998)
    BS Physics, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain (1994)
    [1] https://www.emccglobal.org/about_emcc/awards/
    [2] https://e-smi.eu/meetings/emim/emim-2021/
    [3] https://spie.org/OP21N/conferencedetails/emerging-topics-in-ai

Research

  • As a Senior Researcher, I lead research projects on MRI-PET imaging to
    understand the *dynamics of protein aggregation, neuroinflammation and brain
    structural changes in neurodegenerative diseases, from early preclinical
    stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and fronto-temporal degeneration
    (FTD).* In collaboration with clinicians, the ultimate aim of my research
    line is to develop early diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers with high
    clinical utility.
    *Current research projects: *
    *1) "Investigate a novel measure of cortical microstructure and its
    relationship to protein aggregation in preclinical Alzheimer's disease and
    the spectrum of FTD-ALS"*
    In this project, I apply a novel diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)
    technique to measure *cortical microstructure as a promising early
    diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in preclinical AD and across diverse
    neurodegenerative diseases*. In this line of research, I have a
    close international collaboration with Patrizia Vannini from Massachusetts
    General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Boston, US, and Juan Fortea and
    Victor Montal of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
    /"The relationship between cortical microstructural changes and in vivo
    amyloid-β and tau in aging and preclinical Alzheimer's disease"/,
    *Rodriguez-Vieitez*, Montal, Sepulcre, Lois, Hanseeuw, Vilaplana, Schultz,
    Properzi, Scott, Fortea, Johnson, Sperling, and Vannini.
    Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
    / Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
    / Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden / Hospital de la Santa Creu i
    Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain / Saint Luc University Hospital, Université
    Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium / Brigham and Women's Hospital,
    Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
    2021 Alzheimer's Association International Conference:
    https://twitter.com/elenarv/status/1419997108447416341?s=20&;t=KuH1p9dKxwt9tXrtWb7Wyg
    Besides preclinical AD, I have investigated cortical microstructure in
    relation to astrocytosis in familial forms of AD:
    /“Cortical microstructural correlates of astrocytosis in autosomal-dominant
    Alzheimer’s disease", /Vilaplana*, *Rodriguez-Vieitez*, *Ferreira, Montal,
    Almkvist, Wall, Lleó, Westman, Graff, Fortea and Nordberg, Neurology
    2020
  • 94:1 **These authors contributed equally. *IF 8.05, PMID:
    32291295
  • https://n.neurology.org/content/94/19/e2026 [1]
    *2) "Clinical utility of FDG PET imaging in memory clinic patients with
    uncertain diagnosis"*
    - Clinical utility of FDG PET imaging in memory clinic patients with
    uncertain diagnosis, Giulia Perini, MD, University of Pavia, Italy
  • Agneta
    Nordberg, KI, Laetitia Lemoine, KI
    *3) "Untangling heterogeneous pathways to Alzheimer's disease by
    investigating discordance between amyloid CSF and PET imaging biomarkers"*
    A. Sala, A. Nordberg, *E.* *Rodriguez-Vieitez.* "Longitudinal Longitudinal
    pathways of cerebrospinal fluid and positron emission tomography biomarkers
    of amyloid-β positivity", Molecular Psychiatry 2020, Dec 11
  • /JIF/ 12.38
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-020-00950-w [2]
    In this study we identifed two alternative pathological pathways leading to
    Alzheimer's disease. Using a large longitudinal dataset of amyloid protein
    accumulation as measured by brain images and biochemical samples from the
    cerebrospinal fluid, we showed that Alzheimer’s-related amyloid pathology
    can be detected first in the brain in some individuals, or first in the
    cerebrospinal fluid in other individuals, adding to evidence that Alzheimer's
    is a heterogeneous disease. These results have biological and clinical
    implications.
    This research is as part of the EU-funded AMYPAD project, "Amyloid imaging
    to prevent Alzheimer's disease", https://amypad.eu [3] (KI principal
    investigator: Agneta Nordberg)
    *Methods*
    Besides image processing and quantification, I have a strong focus on novel
    statistical approaches to unravel the associations between brain morphology,
    underlying molecular biology changes in the central nervous system and the
    periphery, and cognition.
    Overall, I have co-authored over 55 peer-reviewed publications in
    international journals. I have co-supervised two PhD students and
    mentored several master and undergraduate students, collaborate with
    clinicians, and currently co-supervise PhD student Mona-Lisa Malarte, KI.
    Through my ongoing projects, I plan to strengthen my collaboration with
    other national and international research institutions and hospitals, and to
    focus on research with high potential for patient benefit.
    [1] https://n.neurology.org/content/94/19/e2026
    [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-020-00950-w
    [3] https://amypad.eu

Teaching

  • Course leader in PhD course *"Translational Molecular Brain Imaging in
    Neurodegenerative Disorders"* (Spring 2020, 2021, and 2022), Neuroscience
    Programme, Karolinska Institutet
    Teaching lectures on PET imaging in neurodegenerative disorders at various
    courses:
    - KI Master in Biomedicine (course leader Louisa Cheung), since 2017
    - Stockholm University "Specialist Course in Clinical Neuropsychology: Theory
    and Method” (course leader Maria Lindau), since 2017
    - KI Advanced Course in Alzheimer’s disease & other dementias, since 2016
    - KI PhD course "Application of molecular biology and molecular brain imaging
    techniques in neurodegenerative disorders", 2013, 2016 (course leader Taher
    Darreh-Shori)

Articles

All other publications

Employments

  • Researcher, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2015-

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2022

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