Alexandra is a Wellcome Trust Translational Neuroscience PhD student, co-supervised by Prof Simon Cox and Prof James Boardman. She is interested in multi-omics, myelin, and cognitive function, and her PhD project investigates peripheral omics signatures of white matter microstructure and myelin in neurodevelopment and throughout the life‐course. Her goal is to help advance the research of minimally-invasive biomarkers for early risk stratification and brain health strategies.

Before starting her PhD project, Alexandra completed research rotations investigating altered myelination in fragile X syndrome (with Dr Lida Zoupi), anxiety–depression comorbidity in Generation Scotland (with the Marioni group), and associations between circulating proteins and structural brain measures in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (with the LBC team). Alexandra completed an undergraduate degree in Anatomy and Development at the University of Edinburgh, including an Honours project with Dr Thomas Theil where she used single-cell RNA sequencing to study the effects of an ASD-linked mutation on early neuronal development using human telencephalic organoids.

In her spare time, Alexandra enjoys playing basketball, a good gym session, all things architecture, and visits to art galleries.