78. Gillian Coughlan: Dementia, spatial navigation, and menopause

Gillian Coughlan is a postdoc whose work focuses on the role of spatial navigation in dementia. In this conversation, we talk about how Gillian went from Ireland to doing a PhD in the UK, different ways for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, what beta-amyloid and tau are, what spatial navigation has to do with dementia, and whether early menopause can affect women's spatial navigation performance and risk of getting dementia.BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreonTimestamps00:00: Playing the piano07:13: How Gillian ended up doing her PhD with Michael Hornberger in Norwich14:02: How to find a good mentor16:48: Sea Hero Quest22:28: Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease32:37: The role of Beta-Amyloid and tau in dementia34:41: Spatial navigation, the entorhinal cortex, and dementia44:14: Does menopause affect spatial navigation and risk of dementia?50:31: Book or paper more people should read52:37: Something Gillain wishes she'd learnt sooner55:31: Advice for PhD students and postdocsPodcast linksWebsite: https://geni.us/bjks-podTwitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twtGillian's linksGoogle Scholar: https://geni.us/coughlan-scholarTwitter: https://geni.us/coughlan-twtBen's linksWebsite: https://geni.us/bjks-webGoogle Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholarTwitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twtReferences and linksEpisodes with Michael Hornberger and Hugo Spiershttps://geni.us/bjks-hornbergerhttps://geni.us/bjks-spiers  Coughlan, DeSouza, Zhukovsky, Hornberger, Grady & Buckley (2023). Spatial cognition is associated with levels of phosphorylated-tau and β-amyloid in clinically normal older adults. Neurobiology of Aging.Coughlan, ... Buckley (2023). Association of age at menopause and hormone therapy use with tau and β-amyloid positron emission tomography. JAMA Neurology.Coughlan, Coutrot, Khondoker, Minihane, Spiers & Hornberger (2019). Toward personalized cognitive diagnostics of at-genetic-risk Alzheimer’s disease. PNAS.Coughlan, Laczó, Hort, Minihane & Hornberger (2018). Spatial navigation deficits—overlooked cognitive marker for preclinical Alzheimer disease?. Nature Reviews Neurology.Eger (2017). The Choice.Pertesi, Coughlan, Puthusseryppady, Morris & Hornberger (2019). Menopause, cognition and dementia–A review. Post reproductive health.