I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Neurolinguistics Division at the Department of Psychology and the Linguistic Research Infrastructure (LiRI) of the University of Zurich. My main research interests are neurodevelopment, neuropathologies, functional brain networks and brain plasticity in children and adolescents with a focus on language. In my current work, I aim to investigate the early stages of language development and the underlying functional brain networks using functional magnet resonance imaging (fMRI). My goal is to increase the understanding of the developmental trajectory of cerebral language processing, to enlighten how characteristics of language processing in fetal and neonatal brains relate to later language abilities and to improve the identification of the children at risk for an unfavorable development.

I was awarded a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Université de Montréal, Canada, for my research on cerebral language networks in paediatric patients with epilepsy. For this, I applied electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the neuronal basis of language processing. During my Master’s, I worked in a project addressing the long-term effects of premature birth on brain structures and cognition. I also have experience in clinical neuropsychology both with children and adults.