T.J. Libecap
Connect
tjli227@uky.eduPositions
- MD/PhD Student
College Unit(s)
Pronouns
He/HimBiography and Education
Education
Emory University, BS Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology 2016 I conducted my undergraduate thesis under Hillary Rodman, studying aberrant prefrontal cortex GABAergic circuitry in Rhesus macaque following hippocampal injury. After graduating, I worked in Donna Maney's Bird Brain lab studying neuroendocrine pathways in two species of songbirds: White Throated sparrows and Zebra Finch. After joining the MD/PhD program at UKCOM I worked with Dr. Sharon Walsh investigating behavioral change among those suffering from substance use disorders and endocarditis. Currently, I work in Brian Gold's Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging laboratory investigating neuroimaging biomarkers of aging.
Summary:
Current Year: G4Research
I am particularly interested in validating neuroimaging biomarkers of aging and dementia that can be used to identify at risk patients and screen for therapeutic efficacy. My current project focuses on enlarged perivascular spaces which is a commonly seen lesion on brain scans of elderly individuals and a validated marker of cerebral small vessel disease. Cerebral small vessel disease is a major risk factor for certain forms of dementia but little work has explored the usefulness of enlarged perivascular spaces as a predictive biomarker of dementia symptoms.
Dissertation title: Investigating enlarged perivascular spaces as a neuroimaging biomarker of cerebral small vessel disease.
Selected Publications
Libecap TJ, Zachariou V, Bauer CE, Wilcock DM, Jicha GA, Raslau FD and Gold BT (2022) Enlarged Perivascular Spaces Are Negatively Associated With Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scores in Older Adults. Front. Neurol. 13:888511. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.888511
Libecap, T. J., Bauer, C. E., Zachariou, V., Pappas, C. A., Raslau, F. D., Liu, P., Lu, H., & Gold, B. T. (2023). Association of Baseline Cerebrovascular Reactivity and Longitudinal Development of Enlarged Perivascular Spaces in the Basal Ganglia. Stroke, 10.1161/STROKEAHA.123.043882. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.123.043882