I have always been interested in the mysteries of human mind and its neurophysiological underpinnings, which led me to first complete my graduate studies in Psychology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and then a master degree in Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. In 2016, I obtained a PhD in Neuroscience at EPFL, where I investigated the multisensory and sensorimotor mechanisms as the basis for self-consciousness. During my doctoral research I worked with different clinical populations, including patients with spinal injury and psychosis, and used behavioral, virtual reality, robotics, and neuroimaging paradigms. In 2017, I’ve joined the Department of Radiology at CHUV, where I investigated the effects of repeated exposure to gadolinium based contrast agents in the deep brain nuclei.
Currently, working as a postdoctoral researcher, I am involved in a multidisciplinary project, which aims to develop a multimodal approach to increase detection accuracy of covert awareness in patients with disorders of consciousness. Being affiliated at the Department of Radiology at CHUV, and collaborating with prof. Hagmann’s lab, I am investigating the diagnostic and prognostic value of PET and MRI imaging in patients with severe brain injuries, with a focus on the brain connectivity analyses.