Full professor
Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics
Faculty of Science and Engineering

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physics, Professor Desjardins continued her studies with a PhD in biomedical engineering in joint supervision between the Pierre and Marie Curie University Paris 6 and the Polytechnique Montréal, completed by a post-doctoral internship at the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on in vivo imaging of neurons and blood vessels.

Her research projects unfold according to three main themes: the development of imaging methods and numerical models, as well as their application to the study of brain activity and neurovascular coupling.

The methods used by Professor Desjardins to image the brains of mice at various spatial scales include two-photon microscopy, wide-field imaging (fluorescence and intrinsic signals), optical coherence tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging. Her data analysis and modeling methods include biophysical models of oxygen transport, Monte Carlo simulations of magnetic resonance, and artificial neural networks.

These imaging and modeling methods allow exploration of various questions in neuroscience in the mouse model. Her recent projects, some conducted in collaboration with several colleagues, thus focus on the evolution of neuronal and vascular networks over aging, oxygen distribution and radiosensitivity in tumors, modulation of neurovascular coupling by norepinephrine, as well as the link between brain structure and function.