Welcome to the Villeneuve Lab
The Villeneuve Lab is interested in how the brain ages, with a specific focus on factors that modify the association between brain lesions and cognitive performance. Our research is motivated by the fact that more than 25% of older adults are considered cognitively normal despite the presence of beta-amyloid in their brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. This fact suggests that other factors interact with beta-amyloid to trigger cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. It also suggests that actions can be taken to prevent or postpone disease-related symptoms. The main focus of the Villeneuve Lab’s research is therefore to examine the factors that protect against, or worsen, the development of cognitive deficits in age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
We use a multi-tier approach that includes molecular PET imaging, MRI imaging, neuropsychological testing and genetics, combined with analytic tools such as deep learning, lasso regression and partial least squares regression.
Visit our research page to learn more about our ongoing projects.
We work in close collaboration with the StoP-AD Centre, which is also directed by Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve.
Recent News
| AAIC 2025 July 2025 Villeneuve lab members and the StoP-AD Centre team will be showcasing their latest work in Toronto at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), the largest international conference dedicated to advancing dementia science. Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve will give a plenary talk Sunday morning and will also speak Thursday morning at AAIC For All, a free public event. Come see our presentations in Toronto or online! Sunday, July 27 Plenary Talk by Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve @ 11:00 a.m., Hall ABC Biomarker and Clinical Trajectories of Preclinical AD Lightning Presentation by Ting Qiu @ 8:00-8:45 a.m., Room 701 Poster #371 by Dr. Valentin Ourry Poster #410 by Ting Qiu Poster #433 by Dr. Daniel Bowie Monday, July 28 Featured Research Session Talk by Aurélie Garrone @ 8:00–8:45 a.m., Room 107 Sex-specific effects of neuropsychiatric symptoms on amyloid and tau pathology and white matter hyperintensity volume in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease Poster #305 by Yara Yakoub Poster #975 by Mohammadali Javanray Poster #981 by Alfonso Fajardo-Valdez Tuesday, July 29 Poster #020 by Nolan-Patrick Cunningham Daridorexant for Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention – Upcoming Clinical Trial Poster #408 by Jonathan Gallego Rudolf Poster #487 by Amelie Metz Thursday, July 31 Talk by Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve @ 9:00 a.m., Hall G and online at AAIC For All — register for free: alz.org/aaic-for-all The Clinical Prognosis of Cognitively Unimpaired Individuals With Positive Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease All days Booth #710I with Jennifer Tremblay-Mercier @ 10:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m., Hall DE Find out more about the PREVENT-AD cohort and open data |
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| Yara presents Cerebral Imaging Centre Lecture April 2025 Yara Yakoub gave a talk entitled “Blood-based biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease” as part of the CIC Lecture Series at the Douglas Research Centre. |
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| Yara receives Alzheimer Society—FRQ scholarship April 2025 Congratulations to Yara Yakoub on receiving a doctoral scholarship from the Alzheimer Society of Canada, in partnership with the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ). |
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| New article from the Villeneuve Lab April 2025 Valentin Ourry’s latest article “Amyloid and tau pathology in cognitively unimpaired individuals with a parental history of Alzheimer disease” has been published in Neurology, accompanied by editorial commentary. Our study shows that female sex, and having a father affected by Alzheimer’s disease, rather than an affected mother, are independently associated with greater amyloid-related tau burden in the brain. However, women showed greater brain resilience to beta-amyloid pathology. Check out the full publication and the editorial. [Papers] |
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| AD/PD 2025 International Conference April 2025 Amelie Metz gave a quarter-hour symposium presentation relating to disease mechanisms of fronto-temporal dementia at the AD/PD 2025 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases in Vienna, Austria. [Presentations] |
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| New article from the Villeneuve Lab February 2025 Yara Yakoub’s paper “Plasma p-tau217 identifies cognitively normal older adults who will develop cognitive impairment in a 10-year window” has been published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Our study provides strong evidence that measurements of p-tau217 in blood plasma can be used to predict whether individuals will develop cognitive impairment in the next 10 years. Check out the full publication. [Papers] |
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| New article from the Villeneuve Lab and the Vascular and Neurodegenerative Disorders of Aging Lab February 2025 Amelie Metz’s article “Frontotemporal dementia subtyping using machine learning, multivariate statistics and neuroimaging” has been published in Brain Communications. Metz et al. showed that machine learning can reliably identify different subtypes of frontotemporal dementia by analyzing brain scans and clinical tests. This method used advanced imaging and statistical tools to sort patients into subtypes with high accuracy, an approach that could help doctors better identify and diagnose frontotemporal dementia in patients. Check out the full publication. [Papers] |
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| Dr. Villeneuve in the media January 2025 Dr. Sylvia Villeneuve gave several television, radio and newspaper interviews during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in Canada. [Media and Press] |
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| More lab news here. |
