People

Leadership Team

  • Professor Greig de Zubicaray

    Research Program: My research program focuses on investigating the neural and cognitive mechanisms responsible for language processing, how these mechanisms are affected by brain tumours and stroke, how our genome helps us speak, and how language recovery can be facilitated by various treatments. Research Areas:  Neurobiology of language and memory; Cognitive...

  • Professor Katie McMahon

    Summary:  Prof McMahon is the Deputy Director of Herston Imaging Research Facility, and Academic Lead Research for the School of Clinical Sciences. She has over 25 years' experience in biomedical imaging and imaging analysis.Research: Her research interests lie in understanding the neurobiology of language, learning and memory, and the genetic and...

Postdoctoral Fellows

Elaine Kearney

Dr Elaine Kearney is a postdoctoral research fellow in the LCBS lab, under the supervision of Prof Greig de Zubicaray and Prof Katie McMahon. Elaine completed her PhD in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Toronto (Canada) and postdoctoral training in speech neuroscience at Boston University (USA). Her research focuses on the sensorimotor control of speech production in individuals with neurological disorders, asking questions such as: How do we use auditory feedback when we speak, and how does that change with neurological diagnoses like Parkinson’s disease? Elaine uses a range of behavioural, computational modelling, and neuroimaging techniques to answer these questions and further uncover the brain mechanisms underlying communication. In the lab, Elaine is working on a lesion-symptom mapping study investigating links between brain tumours and language impairment.

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Angelique Volfart

Dr Angelique Volfart is a postdoctoral research fellow in the LCBS lab, under the supervision of Prof Greig de Zubicaray and Prof Katie McMahon. Angelique completed her master’s degree in Cognitive and Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Strasbourg (France) and her PhD in Medical Sciences / Health and Life Sciences as an international cosupervision between the University of Lorraine (France) and the University of Louvain (Belgium).

Angelique has expertise in scalp and intracerebral electrophysiological recordings coupled with frequency-tagging (fast periodic visual stimulation), and visual recognition processes, as her PhD thesis investigated the role of ventral visual stream regions with these methods. In the lab, Angelique is now working on language production paradigms using intracerebral SEEG recordings and fMRI.

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Postgraduate Students

Valeriya Tolkacheva

Valeriya Tolkacheva is a PhD student in the LCBS lab, co-supervised by Prof de Zubicaray, Prof McMahon and Dr Sonia Brownsett (UQ). Valeriya completed her joint Master of Science degree in Clinical Linguistics at the University of Groningen, University of Potsdam and University of Eastern Finland in 2019 (EMCL+ program). Her research focuses on investigating statistical regularities in language and the role of the right hemisphere in comprehension and production using behavioural and neuromodulation (navigated TMS) methods. In the lab, Valeriya is working on the Adult Brain Tumour Project and investigating the neurobiological correlates of language impairments in brain tumour patients after surgery using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). She also works as a sessional academic in the School of Psychology and Counselling and does tutoring on different subjects in the field of psychology. In the future, she aims to continue a career path in academia and pursue a postdoctoral fellowship to study the cognitive neuroscience of language. Outside of the lab, she likes painting, singing, hiking, and scuba diving.

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Lydia Huang

Lydia Huang is a PhD student at the LCBS Lab, supervised by Dr. Volfart, Prof. de Zubicaray, and Prof. McMahon. Lydia completed her Bachelor degree in Chinese Language and Literature at Shantou University in China and her Master of Linguistics and Communication Sciences Degree at Radboud University in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on electrophysiological signatures of spoken word production using intracranial electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging. Outside the lab, Lydia enjoys reading books of social sciences, writing, jogging, hiking, swimming, badminton, basketball, and inline skating.

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Carly Hood

Carly is a Master’s student in the LCBS lab. She joined us from the University of Queensland, where she completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours). Her MPhil project investigates long-term speech and language outcomes in survivors of childhood posterior fossa tumours with lesion-symptom mapping techniques. She is co-supervised by Prof Angela Morgan (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne) and Dr Sonia Brownsett (UQ).

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And the dearly departed…