Top Researchers
Top Neuroscience Researchers at McGill University for 2026
McGill University’s recent neuroscience output shows a research community working across brain health, cognition, and mental illness with steady momentum. The work sampled here spans imaging, physiology, clinical neuroscience, and psychiatry, giving a useful snapshot of how investigators are connecting mechanisms in the brain with real-world outcomes.
Below, you’ll find a closer look at several McGill researchers whose recent publications reflect that breadth. Their work touches Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive aging, depression, connectivity mapping, and other questions at the center of contemporary neuroscience.
Featured Researchers
Nesrine Rahmouni
Nesrine Rahmouni’s recent work at McGill University centers on physiology, psychiatry and mental health, and neurology, with publications on plasma p-tau217, tau-PET, phospho-tau biomarkers, and glial reactivity in Alzheimer’s disease.
Activity over the last year: 45 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Plasma p-tau217 and tau-PET predict future cognitive decline among cognitively unimpaired individuals: implications for clinical trials (Mar 2025)
- Phospho-tau serine-262 and serine-356 as biomarkers of pre-tangle soluble tau assemblies in Alzheimer’s disease (Feb 2025)
- Glial reactivity correlates with synaptic dysfunction across aging and Alzheimer’s disease (Jul 2025)
Joseph Therriault
Joseph Therriault’s McGill University publications focus on physiology, psychiatry and mental health, and cognitive neuroscience, including studies of plasma p-tau217, tau-PET, phospho-tau biomarkers, and synaptic dysfunction across aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
Activity over the last year: 40 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Plasma p-tau217 and tau-PET predict future cognitive decline among cognitively unimpaired individuals: implications for clinical trials (Mar 2025)
- Phospho-tau serine-262 and serine-356 as biomarkers of pre-tangle soluble tau assemblies in Alzheimer’s disease (Feb 2025)
- Glial reactivity correlates with synaptic dysfunction across aging and Alzheimer’s disease (Jul 2025)
Sylvia Villeneuve
Sylvia Villeneuve’s recent McGill University research spans psychiatry and mental health, physiology, and cognitive neuroscience, with papers on amyloid burden, APOE4, longitudinal functional connectivity, and cognitive outcomes in aging.
Activity over the last year: 24 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Plasma p-tau217 and tau-PET predict future cognitive decline among cognitively unimpaired individuals: implications for clinical trials (Mar 2025)
- Differential effects of aging, Alzheimer's pathology, and APOE4 on longitudinal functional connectivity and episodic memory in older adults (Apr 2025)
- Precuneus Activity during Retrieval Is Positively Associated with Amyloid Burden in Cognitively Normal Older APOE 4 Carriers (Jan 2025)
Stijn Servaes
Stijn Servaes has been publishing at McGill University across physiology, psychiatry and mental health, and neurology, with recent studies on phospho-tau biomarkers, neuroinflammation, and MRI-based diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Activity over the last year: 34 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Phospho-tau serine-262 and serine-356 as biomarkers of pre-tangle soluble tau assemblies in Alzheimer’s disease (Feb 2025)
- Amyloid beta and tau are associated with the dual effect of neuroinflammation on neurodegeneration (Sep 2025)
- Transforming 3D MRI to 2D Feature Maps Using Pre-Trained Models for Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (May 2025)
Lena Palaniyappan
Lena Palaniyappan’s McGill University work sits at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry and mental health, and imaging, with recent publications on brain asymmetry, schizophrenia, and depression.
Activity over the last year: 17 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Mahsa Dadar
Mahsa Dadar’s McGill University research combines psychiatry and mental health, physiology, and radiology, nuclear medicine and imaging, including studies on cerebral atrophy, white matter hypointensities, and brain organization.
Activity over the last year: 17 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Regional Cerebral Atrophy Contributes to Personalized Survival Prediction in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Multicentre, Machine Learning, Deformation‐Based Morphometry Study (Feb 2025)
- Racial and ethnic differences in white matter hypointensities: The role of vascular risk factors (Mar 2025)
- Disentangling the effect of sex from brain size on brain organization and cognitive functioning (Jan 2025)
Bratislav Mišić
Bratislav Mišić’s recent McGill University publications emphasize cognitive neuroscience, imaging, and neurology, with work on functional connectivity mapping, anesthesia, and interpreting brain maps.
Activity over the last year: 19 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Gustavo Turecki
Gustavo Turecki’s McGill University research focuses on biological psychiatry, clinical psychology, and molecular biology, with recent papers on chromatin accessibility in major depression, SGK1 and vulnerability to depression, and epigenetic aging in bipolar disorder.
Activity over the last year: 19 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Single-nucleus chromatin accessibility profiling identifies cell types and functional variants contributing to major depression (Aug 2025)
- Hippocampal SGK1 promotes vulnerability to depression: the role of early life adversity, stress, and genetic risk (Oct 2025)
- Preliminary Investigation of the Association Between Epigenetic Aging Acceleration and Amyloid Biomarkers in Bipolar Disorder (Jun 2025)
What McGill University's Neuroscience Community Is Working On
Across the featured McGill neuroscience researchers, psychiatry and mental health appears most often, followed by physiology and cognitive neuroscience, with neurology and imaging also strongly represented. That mix suggests a community actively linking brain disorders with measurable biological processes, while also using imaging and connectivity methods to understand cognition, aging, and psychiatric outcomes. The result is a research profile that moves fluidly between mechanism, measurement, and clinical relevance.- Psychiatry and Mental health - seen across 6 of the featured researchers
- Physiology - seen across 5 of the featured researchers
- Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 4 of the featured researchers
- Neurology - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
Together, these researchers highlight a department-sized ecosystem moving between molecular signals, brain imaging, and clinical questions. If you’re exploring neuroscience at McGill University, the profiles below offer a practical starting point for finding collaborators, following emerging themes, or spotting methods that may fit your own projects. Tools like Resub can also help streamline literature discovery and submission prep as your research workflow grows.
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