Developmental Neuroimaging Lab

🧠💜 Today is FASD Awareness Day!

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can affect how a person learns, thinks, behaves, and experiences the world.

Today, we’re joining the conversation to spread awareness, challenge misconceptions, and reduce stigma🤗

Greater understanding of FASD means more compassion, better support, and a stronger focus on the person - not the diagnosis.

Let’s keep learning, listening, and sharing accurate information. Because awareness creates understanding, and understanding creates change 🫶

☀️🧠 Ending the summer on a stellar note! ✨

We wrapped up another amazing summer with the ACHRI Summer Student Symposium! Our Lebel Lab summer students showed off their hard work with some poster presentations, and a talk about exploring how puberty is associated with white matter development in males and females 🧬📊

From late nights to lots of learning, questions, and (probably) too much coffee ☕️ we’re so proud of everything our students accomplished this summer! 🥹💜

Puberty is more than just growth spurts and mood swings! 👀

Our research has uncovered some pretty interesting facts about what happens during this important stage of development. 🧠💡

Swipe to see what we’ve learned! 👉

A lab is more than research - it’s the people behind it👭👬 Our annual BBQ gives us a chance to slow down, have some fun, share a meal, and simply enjoy being together. Grateful for this amazing team and the community we’ve built! ☀️🍔

Introducing Olivia!

I am an undergraduate student researcher entering my 4th year of the Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences program at U of C this fall. I joined the Developmental Neuroimaging Lab in May 2025 and am continuing my research as an Honours thesis student. My research focuses on how the brain changes during our pr***en and teenage years, particularly during puberty. While we know that puberty is a period of substantial physical and behavioural change, we still have a lot to learn about how the brain changes at puberty. My research uses MRI to investigate how puberty affects both white matter and gray matter development. Through this work, I hope to understand why many individuals begin to struggle with mental health and substance use disorders during their teenage years, and ultimately help inform evidence-based approaches to better support adolescent well-being. Outside of the lab, I enjoy hiking, swimming, and spending time with my family!

✨ It's been a season of celebration in our lab! ✨

We're thrilled to recognize some of our incredible team members for their well-deserved achievements:

🎉 Qili was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to investigate how moment-to-moment parent–child emotional exchanges support children's social and emotional development. We're excited to see where this important research leads!

🎖Chad was granted the Owerko Centre Pathways to Independence Grant which he will use to look into neuroimaging data and the connection the brain has to puberty, as well as mental health.

🏆 Chloe received the Owerko Community Engagement Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to community engagement.

🌟 And a special congratulations to Xiangyu, who received the Owerko Centre Staff Recognition Award. We had the privilege of celebrating this achievement together during one of our lab meetings, where Xiangyu was presented with a commemorative plaque.

Congratulations to all of our award recipients! Your hard work, passion, and dedication continue to inspire our lab and the broader research community. 👏💙

*Credits to - https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/owerko/education/funding-recipients for the blurbs*

Our favourite mission? Making every rocket ship (MRI) visit a fun adventure for our little astronauts🚀💙

Receiving messages like this fills our hearts. While we're passionate about advancing brain research, we're just as passionate about making sure every child leaves with a smile.

The science is important, but so is making every child feel safe, comfortable, and celebrated along the journey. Thank you to all of our incredible participant families for trusting us and being part of our mission to better understand brain development🧠✨

Every year the Radiology department at UofC hosts Radiology Research Day. This year we were fortunate to have four of our lab members give podium talks on a various topics - from prenatal maternal distress to pubertal milestones.

Such a gift to have our members share their research to all members of the radiology community!🧠👏🏼

So proud of all our students who represented the lab at the Owerko Centre Conference 💡Four of our students presented posters, and two of them even won awards! Congratulations to Caitlyn for winning best undergraduate poster award and Sabrina for winning best graduate poster award🏆

Introducing Neha!

Hi everyone, I’m Neha! I completed my MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Glasgow and hold a BSc in Psychology from the University of Alberta. My research background spans maternal mental health and neurodevelopment outcomes in children, and I’m so excited to bring that into the work we do here.

Outside of the lab, I’m a STEM tutor, an avid reader, and always planning my next trip. You can also find me hunting for Calgary’s best matcha or spending time with my golden retriever Bruno!