Staff Profile
Dr Laura Wright
Research Associate
- Email: laura.wright@ncl.ac.uk
- Address: Clinical Ageing Research Unit
Translational and Clinical Research Institute
Campus for Ageing and Vitality
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 5PL
Current Role
I currently work as a research associate on a project entitled 'Predicting cognitive decline using neuropsychiatric symptoms in prodromal Lewy body disease: a multimodal study' at the Translational and Clinical Research Unit at Newcastle University.
Areas of Expertise
- Neuroimaging
- Alzheimer's disease
- Neurodegeneration
- Neuropsychology
- Memory and Cognition
- Dementia
Qualifications
- PhD, Department of Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, 2021
- MSc (Res), Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Neuroimaging, University of Sheffield, 2017 (Distinction)
- BSc, Psychology, University of Sheffield, 2016 (First Class Honours)
Memberships
- British Psychological Society (BPS) Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC)
- British Neuropsychological Society (BNS)
- International and Parkinson Movement Disorders Society (MDS)
- Alzheimer's Research UK (ARUK) North Network
- Dementias and Neurodegenerative Diseases (DemaNDs) Research Group
I am a research associate working with the Brain and Movement (BAM) Research Group led by Professor Lynn Rochester at the Translational and Clinical Research Institute at Newcastle University, and based at the Clinical Ageing Research Unit.
I am a psychologist with a background in cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology and neuroimaging. My previous research has focussed on cognitive and neuroimaging markers for prodromal and preclinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease. I have a particular interest in neuropsychological indicators of neurodegenerative disease and the development of clinical tools for early, differential diagnosis. Through a combination of cognitive and neuroimaging approaches I hope to establish reliable diagnostic markers for the earliest stages of neurodegeneration. My current work focuses on neuropsychiatric symptoms in Lewy body disease, their relationship with underlying neuropathology and declines in cognitive function over time. I am passionate about research that may contribute to earlier, more accurate diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementias that will improve patient access to appropriate care earlier in the disease course, improving the quality of life for both carers and people living with dementia.
- De Marco M, Wright LM, Valera-Bermejo JM, Ferguson C. APOE ε4 positivity predicts centrality of episodic memory nodes in patients with mild cognitive impairment: A cohort-based, graph theory-informed study of cognitive networks. Neurobiology of Aging 2022. In Preparation.
- Wright LM, De Marco M, Venneri A. Topological divergence in structural covariance brain networks in healthy ageing and cognitive decline: a graph theory approach. Neurobiology of Aging 2022. Submitted.
- Wright LM, De Marco M, Venneri A. A graph theory approach to clarifying aging and disease related changes in cognitive networks. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2021, 13, 676618.
- Wright LM, De Marco M, Venneri A. Verbal fluency discrepancies as a marker of the prehippocampal stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology 2021, epub ahead of print.