Christine Tardif is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She is also a member of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) core of the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre.
Tardif’s lab develops novel MRI techniques to generate high-resolution quantitative MR images of the brain in-vivo, and relates them to microstructural features of the tissue. Methodological developments include novel image acquisition techniques, multi-modal biophysical modelling, and high-resolution cortical modelling. The lab has a translational approach, working on both small animal (7 Tesla) and human (3 and 7 Tesla) MRI systems.
Tardif’s research has focused on MRI-based investigations of myelin, a lipid-rich cellular membrane that forms an insulating sheath around axons to achieve and maintain the rapid conduction and synchronous timing of neural networks. Myelination is a lifelong dynamic process of forming and modulating myelin sheaths. It underlies key mechanisms of brain plasticity and higher order cognitive functions. In addition to demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, there is accumulating evidence that dysmyelination contributes to psychiatric disorders as well. Tardif’s lab investigates myelination (in both white and grey matter) using multiple MRI techniques such as relaxometry, magnetization transfer and diffusion-weighted imaging.
Tardif received her undergraduate degree in computer engineering from McGill in 2004, and her masters’ degree in bioengineering from Imperial College London, UK, in 2006. She then returned to McGill to earn a PhD in biomedical engineering in 2011. After postdoctoral studies at the Max-Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig, Germany) and at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (McGill), she joined The Neuro in 2017 as an Assistant Professor.
Selected Publications
Tardif, C. L., Devenyi, G. A., Amaral, R. S. C., Pelleieux, S., Poirier, J., Rosa-Neto, P., . . . PREVENT-AD Research Group. (2018). Regionally specific changes in the hippocampal circuitry accompany progression of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in preclinical alzheimer's disease. Human Brain Mapping, 39(2), 971-984. 10.1002/hbm.23897
Woost, L., Bazin, P. L., Taubert, M., Trampel, R., Tardif, C. L., Garthe, A., . . . Klein, T. A. (2018). Physical exercise and spatial training: A longitudinal study of effects on cognition, growth factors, and hippocampal plasticity. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 4239-018-19993-9. 10.1038/s41598-018-19993-9
Boudreau, M., Tardif, C. L., Stikov, N., Sled, J. G., Lee, W., & Pike, G. B. (2017). B1 mapping for bias-correction in quantitative T1 imaging of the brain at 3T using standard pulse sequences. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging : JMRI, 46(6), 1673-1682. 10.1002/jmri.25692
Huntenburg, J. M., Bazin, P. L., Goulas, A., Tardif, C. L., Villringer, A., & Margulies, D. S. (2017). A systematic relationship between functional connectivity and intracortical myelin in the human cerebral cortex. Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.: 1991), 27(2), 981-997. 10.1093/cercor/bhx030
Rowley, C. D., Sehmbi, M., Bazin, P. L., Tardif, C. L., Minuzzi, L., Frey, B. N., & Bock, N. A. (2017). Age-related mapping of intracortical myelin from late adolescence to middle adulthood using T1 -weighted MRI. Human Brain Mapping, 10.1002/hbm.23624
Tardif, C. L., Steele, C. J., Lampe, L., Bazin, P. L., Ragert, P., Villringer, A., & Gauthier, C. J. (2017). Investigation of the confounding effects of vasculature and metabolism on computational anatomy studies. Neuroimage, 149, 233-243. S1053-8119(17)30025-3
Tardif, C. L., Gauthier, C. J., Steele, C. J., Bazin, P. L., Schafer, A., Schaefer, A., . . . Villringer, A. (2016). Advanced MRI techniques to improve our understanding of experience-induced neuroplasticity. Neuroimage, 131, 55-72. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.08.047
Tardif, C. L., Schafer, A., Trampel, R., Villringer, A., Turner, R., & Bazin, P. L. (2016). Open science CBS neuroimaging repository: Sharing ultra-high-field MR images of the brain. Neuroimage, 124(Pt B), 1143-1148. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.08.042
Waehnert, M. D., Dinse, J., Schafer, A., Geyer, S., Bazin, P. L., Turner, R., & Tardif, C. L. (2016). A subject-specific framework for in vivo myeloarchitectonic analysis using high resolution quantitative MRI. Neuroimage, 125, 94-107. S1053-8119(15)00889-7
Dinse, J., Hartwich, N., Waehnert, M. D., Tardif, C. L., Schafer, A., Geyer, S., . . . Bazin, P. L. (2015). A cytoarchitecture-driven myelin model reveals area-specific signatures in human primary and secondary areas using ultra-high resolution in-vivo brain MRI. Neuroimage, 114, 71-87. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.04.023
Rowley, C. D., Bazin, P. L., Tardif, C. L., Sehmbi, M., Hashim, E., Zaharieva, N., . . . Bock, N. A. (2015). Assessing intracortical myelin in the living human brain using myelinated cortical thickness. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 9, 396. 10.3389/fnins.2015.00396
Stikov, N., Boudreau, M., Levesque, I. R., Tardif, C. L., Barral, J. K., & Pike, G. B. (2015). On the accuracy of T1 mapping: Searching for common ground. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 73(2), 514-522. 10.1002/mrm.25135
Tardif, C. L., Schafer, A., Waehnert, M., Dinse, J., Turner, R., & Bazin, P. L. (2015). Multi-contrast multi-scale surface registration for improved alignment of cortical areas. Neuroimage, 111, 107-122. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.02.005
Dinse, J., Waehnert, M., Tardif, C. L., Schafer, A., Geyer, S., Turner, R., & Bazin, P. L. (2013). A histology-based model of quantitative T1 contrast for in-vivo cortical parcellation of high-resolution 7 tesla brain MR images. Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention : MICCAI ...International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, 16(Pt 2), 51-58.
Tardif, C. L., Bedell, B. J., Eskildsen, S. F., Collins, D. L., & Pike, G. B. (2012). Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of cortical multiple sclerosis pathology. Multiple Sclerosis International, 2012, 742018. 10.1155/2012/742018
Tardif, C. L., Collins, D. L., Eskildsen, S. F., Richardson, J. B., & Pike, G. B. (2010). Segmentation of cortical MS lesions on MRI using automated laminar profile shape analysis. Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention : MICCAI ...International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, 13(Pt 3), 181-188.
Tardif, C. L., Collins, D. L., & Pike, G. B. (2010). Regional impact of field strength on voxel-based morphometry results. Human Brain Mapping, 31(7), 943-957. 10.1002/hbm.20908
Tardif, C. L., Collins, D. L., & Pike, G. B. (2009). Sensitivity of voxel-based morphometry analysis to choice of imaging protocol at 3 T. Neuroimage, 44(3), 827-838. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.09.053
