Principal Investigators //
- Corey Hill Allen, PhD >
- Nathaniel Anderson, PhD >
- Felicha Candelaria-Cook, PhD >
- Arvind Caprihan, PhD >
- Aparna Gullapalli, PhD >
- Carla Harenski, PhD >
- Jon Houck, Ph.D. >
- Kent A. Kiehl, PhD >
- J. Michael Maurer, PhD >
- Andrew R. Mayer, PhD >
- John Phillips, MD >
- Sephira Ryman, PhD, MS >
- Julia M. Stephen, PhD >
- Andrei Vakhtin, Ph.D.
- Claire E. Wilcox, MD >
Andrei Vakhtin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dr. Vakhtin is an Associate Professor of Translational Neuroscience. He studied biology (BS) and psychology (BS, PhD) and at the University of New Mexico, and conducted postdoctoral work at Stanford University and the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center at the Palo Alto VA. His work on advanced multimodal neuroimaging methods spans over 15 years, with a primary focus on structural and functional effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on the central nervous system. Dr. Vakhtin published one of the seminal findings detailing functional brain changes following pure blast exposure in US Warfighters, underlining the unique challenges facing our Veterans' clinical care. He continued to build onto this work by seeking innovative TBI diagnostic tools based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in both civilian and military populations. He has expanded his work to incorporate the role of the microbiome in modulating brain function, examining how gut microbiota may influence cerebrovascular function following trauma and, more recently, infections such as COVID-19. His lab is currently supported via NIH R01 mechanism(s), and uses innovative approaches to understand these complex multi-system interactions, with the goal of advancing precise interventions for treating cognitive dysfunction associated with various types of neuropathology. In addition to the aforementioned efforts of his group, Dr. Vakhtin is the Associate Director of the New Mexico Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) Neuroimaging Core, as well as the Junior Director of the MRN Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Biostatistics and Neuroinformatics Core.
Selected Publications //
- Specific White Matter Tracts and Diffusion Properties Predict Conversion From Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease >
- Brainstem damage is associated with poorer sleep quality and increased pain in gulf war illness veterans >
- Distant histories of mild traumatic brain injury exacerbate age-related differences in white matter properties >
- Gut-Brain Axis Pathogenesis of Post-Acute COVID-19 Neurocognitive Symptoms >
- Diffusion tensor tractography of brainstem fibers and its application to pain >
- Brainstem atrophy in Gulf War illness >
- White matter asymmetry: a reflection of pathology in traumatic brain injury >
- Changes in intrinsic functional brain networks following blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury >
- Simulation and clinical assessment of blast-induced traumatic brain injury >
- Transcranial direct current stimulation’s effect on novice versus experienced learning >
- Fronto‐Parietal gray matter and white matter efficiency differentially predict intelligence in males and females >
- Subcortical correlates of individual differences in aptitude >
- Aberrant development of post-movement beta rebound in adolescents and young adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders >
- Quantity yields quality when it comes to creativity: a brain and behavioral test of the equal-odds rule >
- Functional Brain Networks Contributing to the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of >
- Sex differences in the relationship between white matter connectivity and creativity >
