Aysenil Belger

Aysenil Belger, PhD is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences as well as a Member of the Center for Brain Imaging and Analysis. Her translational research integrates neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and experimental psychology to elucidate the cortical circuits underlying attention, executive function, and emotion processing and their disruption across neuropsychiatric disorders.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1993)

Research Interests

Dr. Belger’s laboratory employs functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate:

• Neurobiological substrates of autism spectrum disorder across development
• Neural signatures predicting conversion from clinical high risk to psychosis
• Impact of early childhood adversity on adult brain structure, function, and substance abuse trajectories
• Stress regulation and neural circuitry maturation during adolescence

Her interdisciplinary approach combines experimental psychology paradigms with advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques to map sensory and cognitive deficits onto underlying neural circuit abnormalities.

Publication Trends

Across 2019-2020, Dr. Belger and collaborators produced a prolific body of work (>15 peer-reviewed articles) concentrating on three major themes: (1) reliability and predictive utility of EEG biomarkers (mismatch negativity, P300, gamma oscillations) for psychosis onset; (2) multimodal neuroimaging investigations of temporal lobe asymmetry, dynamic functional connectivity, and cortical genetics in schizophrenia; and (3) neuroendocrine and stress-response studies relating acute psychosocial stress to cognitive disorganization and psychosis risk in youth.

Scientific Awards

• No specific awards listed in the provided text.

Funding & Mentorship

Dr. Belger currently holds or has held major federal grants including:

• A High-Performance 3T MRI for Brain Imaging (2021-2022)
• fMRI Assessment of Attention and Memory in PTSD (2006-2012)

She actively mentors a diverse cohort of trainees ranging from undergraduate and graduate students to postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, and teaches the graduate course Cognitive Clinical Neuroscience at UNC.

Laboratory & Team

Dr. Belger leads an interdisciplinary laboratory embedded within the UNC-Chapel Hill radiology department and maintains collaborative ties with the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and the Center for Brain Imaging and Analysis. Her team participates in multi-institutional consortiums such as the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) to leverage large-scale datasets in order to accelerate discovery and translation.