RCC Spotlight: Dr. Caterina Gratton 

Dr. Caterina Gratton is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Florida State University. Dr. Gratton received her Bachelor's in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, Dr. Gratton is the leading neuroscientist and Principal Investigator of the Gratton Lab at FSU. 

Dr. Gratton’s research focuses on how the brain works and in what ways brain networks influence goal-driven behavior. The Gratton Lab investigates how different parts of the brain work together to help humans achieve goals through large-scale neural networks The research aims to understand how brain networks differ from one another which helps us understand how people are unique and achieve their goals differently. Typically, this research involves multiple hour MRI scans of participants to track their brain networks. Through the Reasearch Computing Center’s (RCC) resources, Dr. Gratton has been able to efficiently map these brain networks. The lab uses high-powered computing nodes to process the data and track the brain activity of participants. 

“The staff at the RCC have been a tremendous help with training students and getting them up to speed on how to use the proper resources in the lab that are needed for research.”  -Dr. Caterina Gratton

Along with her team, Dr. Gratton is determined to understand how the brain functions and what happens when networks are disrupted and break down. One major area of her research is neurodegeneration pertaining to Parkinson’s disease. This research is significant because it investigates the effects of misfolded proteins on neuronal functions in specific brain regions, and how these impacts other areas of the brain. Dr. Gratton’s research can help neuroscientists target interventions for Parkinsons and similar diseases.  

For more information on Dr. Gratton’s research, visit https://psy.fsu.edu/grattonlab/.