Elham Ghanbarian
Biography
Elham Ghanbarian, MD-PhD, is an Associate Project Scientist in the University of California, Irvine Department of Neurology. Her previous research employed animal models and advanced neuroscience techniques, including microendoscopic calcium imaging, electrophysiology, and behavioral assessments. Her current research focuses on developing and evaluating neuroimaging and blood-based biomarkers to characterize disease heterogeneity and improve the prediction of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).
Ghanbarian is the principal investigator of a National Institute on Aging (NIA) R03 award supporting the next generation of researchers in ADRD research. She is an alumna of the NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program and a recipient of the NIH/NIMH-funded UC Irvine Conte Center Seed Grant, which supported her investigation of whether environmental enrichment can reverse the adverse effects of early-life stress. She also served as key personnel on an NIH R21 project focused on developing a mouse model of cognitive reserve in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, she received a three-year Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Postdoctoral Training and Early Career Development Fellowship.
Ghanbarian has published research on plasma and CSF biomarkers as prognostic indicators for cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, with recent works appearing in journals including Alzheimer's & Dementia, Neurology, and The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Before her research career, she worked as a general practitioner for a few years.
Return to topEducation
- PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)
- MD, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences
Distinctions
- Fast Track Alzheimer's Workshop, Bright Focus Foundation, 2025
- NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories Scientific Writing Retreat, 2018
- RIKEN BSI grant for internship in the RIKEN BSI Summer Program, 2013
Areas of Expertise
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Alzheimer's disease
- Machine Learning Cognitive Prediction
- Plasma Biomarkers
- Neruroimaging
- Calcium imaging
- Electrophysiology
- Environmental Enrichment
Recent Publications
- Sarkar AK, Ghanbarian E, Fanning KM, Urani A, Cadiou F, Lipton RB, Ezzati A, “Impact of anxiety and depression on migraine-related disability: Results from the Headache Assessment via Digital Platform in the United States (HeAD-US) study” (opens in new tab), Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, vol. 258, pp. 109172, 2025.
- Demirsoy I, Ghanbarian E, Khorsand B, Nallapu BT, Petersen KK, Lipton RB, Sajjadi SA, Rabin LA, Ezzati A, “Association of item-level responses to cognitive function index with tau pathology and hippocampal volume in the A4 Study” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S and Dementia Diagnosis Assessment and Disease Monitoring, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. e70128, 2025.
- Nallapu BT, Petersen KK, Qian T, Demirsoy I, Ghanbarian E, Davatzikos C, Lipton RB, Ezzati A, “A Machine Learning Approach to Predict Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer Disease Clinical Trials” (opens in new tab), Neurology, vol. 104, no. 8, pp. e213490, 2025.
- Ghanbarian E, Khorsand B, Petersen KK, Nallapu BT, Sajjadi SA, Lipton RB, Ezzati A, “CSF inflammatory cytokines as prognostic indicators for cognitive decline across Alzheimer's disease spectrum” (opens in new tab), Journal of Alzheimer S Disease, vol. 105, no. 4, pp. 1298-1308, 2025.
- Ghanbarian E., Qian T., Khorsand B., Zheng L., Sajjadi S.A., Grill J.D., Rabin L.A., Lipton R.B., Sperling R.A., Ezzati A., “Prognostic value of plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein in cognitively unimpaired older adults: Results from the A4 study” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S and Dementia, vol. 21, 2025.
- Shobe J.L., Ghanbarian E., Bain R., Saxena R., Chandrasekaran M., McNaughton B.L., “Cognitive enrichment improves spatial memory and alters hippocampal synaptic connectivity in a mouse model for early-life stress” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, vol. 19, 2025.
- Zalaquett NG, Salameh E, Kim JM, Ghanbarian E, Tawk K, Abouzari M, “The Dawn and Advancement of the Knowledge of the Genetics of Migraine” (opens in new tab), Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 13, no. 9, pp. 2701, 2024.
- Idris Demirsoy, Kellen K Petersen, Bhargav Teja Nallapu, Elham Ghanbarian, Richard B Lipton, Laura Rabin, Ali Ezzati, “Linking Cognitive Function Index Item‐Level Responses to Tau Pathology in Amyloid Positive Cognitively Unimpaired individuals: Findings from The A4 Study”, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2024.
- Kellen K Petersen, Bhargav Teja Nallapu, Idris Demirsoy, Richard B Lipton, Ellen Grober, Laura Rabin, Elham Ghanbarian, Ali Ezzati, “Investigating heterogeneity of cognitive and functional decline using Subtype and Stage Inference machine learning”, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2024.
- Ghanbarian E, Motamedi F, “Ventral tegmental area inactivation suppresses the expression of CA1 long term potentiation in anesthetized rat”, PLoS One, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. e58844, 2013.
- Davoodi FG, Motamedi F, Akbari E, Ghanbarian E, Jila B, “Effect of reversible inactivation of reuniens nucleus on memory processing in passive avoidance task”, Behav Brain Res, vol. 221, no. 1, pp. 1-6, 2011.
- Akbari E, Motamedi F, Davoodi FG, Noorbakhshnia M, Ghanbarian E, “Orexin-1 receptor mediates long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus area of freely moving rats”, Behav Brain Res, vol. 216, no. 1, pp. 375-80, 2011.
- Ghanbarian E, Motamedi F, “Inactivation of ventral tegmental area influences long term potentiation in the rat hippocampus”, Neuroscience Research, vol. 71, no. S, pp. e375, 2011.
- Bahrami G, Ghanbarian E, Masoumi M, Rahimi Z, RezwanMadani F, “Comparison of fatty acid profiles of aorta and internal mammary arteries in patients with coronary artery disease”, Clin Chim Acta, vol. 370, no. 1-2, pp. 143-6, 2006.
Contact Information
Website: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/neuroinformatics/
Email: ghanbare@hs.uci.edu
Phone: (949) 294-3103
Address: 111 Theory, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3800
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Last updated on 10/31/2026.