Lianne obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University at the Montreal Neurological Institute under the supervision of Dr. Edith Hamel in May 2020. Her research focused on how physical exercise and simvastatin could interfere with the development of cognitive decline in mouse models of vascular dementia with particular interest in white matter and endothelial cell pathology.
In joining the Schaffer-Nishimura lab, Lianne is continuing her research on dementia with a focus on cerebrovascular pathology and how different genetic (ApoE and Trem2) and cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension and ischemic stroke) modify disease trajectory. Primarily, she will be investigating the nature of capillary stalls in ApoE3 and ApoE4 targeted replacement mice and how they may be modified by targeting specific vascular cells. Lianne will also examine microglia and amyloid plaque dynamics in response to a microstroke in mice with the R47h variant of Trem2.
In her spare time Lianne can be found being overly competitive playing board games, bouldering, rewatching anything produced by Michael Schur with her cat Linus, or searching for the best ice cream spot in town.
