Our Team
Gaia Olivo
Principal Investigator (P.I.), gaia.olivo@psy.gu.se
Medical doctor, Assistant Professor in Neuropsychology, docent. My main research focus lies in neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience, with a specific expertise in the use of in-vivo, non-invasive imaging techniques to study the human brain and its plasticity. I am specifically interested in rapid, short-term structural brain plasticity. Get CV.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: I am a gymrat. I do weight-lifting, calisthenics, and pole-dancing. I love singing, listening to music, writing fiction, and I’m a bit of a beer nerd.
Things I hate the most: Don’t be fooled by my Italian heritage… I don’t like cooking, and I HATE football. I strongly dislike running and any kind of more aerobic activities.
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I’ve been the human target for a fire knives casting show… repeatedly.
My motto: Shit happens.
Daniel Marcellino
Senior Researcher, daniel.marcellino@psy.gu.se
Cell and molecular neuroscientist specialized in neurodegenerative disorders, with wide-ranging expertise in both in vitro and in vivo models of disease, receptor pharmacology, preclinical neuroimaging techniques, animal behavior research, and scientific communication.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: Dog lover, photography enthusiast, and love to bake something sweet.
Things I hate the most: Cycling in the rain!
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I enjoy trekking up volcanoes, I have travelled to Indonesia simply to visit volcanoes (I know… it’s not very weird)
My motto: “The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice.” - Brian Herbert
Sean Arthur Cully
PhD student, sean.arthur.cully@psy.gu.se
My background is in cognitive science and I have primarily worked on projects identifying neural correlates of various behaviours and traits using MR imaging. Being a cognitive scientist I do a bit of everything, but specialise mainly in dealing with and analysing data.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: I most enjoy spending time with my family, but on occasion I do enjoy doing some grappling.
Things I hate the most: Fighting to stay awake…
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I did once set fire to one of my nostrils, which was pretty weird, but the perhaps weirder thing is that I then set fire to the other one as well for balance.
My motto: "The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it." – Terry Pratchett
Viktor Magnusson
Research assistant, viktor.magnusson@psy.gu.se
Medicine student. I have worked in MRI within various projects throughout my studies. The studies have ranged from psychiatric studies on depression and dementia to completely different topics like migraine.
Interests and hobbies: I really enjoy board games, video games, pub quizzes... all types of games really. I also spend time reading, exercising and watching absurdly long Youtube video essays.
Things I hate the most: Cooking. If it was nutritionally and socially acceptable to eat the same meal 3 times a day for the rest of my life, I would commit to it in a heartbeat.
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I memorized 200 digits of pi for a field trip challenge when I was a kid, now I can't seem to forget them despite how hard I try.
My motto: "Sting like a bee, but do not float like a butterfly. That's ridiculous" - Ron Swanson
Outside of work
Henrietta Plate
Research assistant, henrietta.plate@psy.gu.se
I am currently pursuing an M.Sc. in Cognitive Science with a background in psychology. My academic interests include (but are not limited to) cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology, language & communication. I’m fascinated by how humans process, learn, and interact with the world in both digital and physical environments.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: Multidisciplinary art, currently obsessed with ceramics (to my financial ruin). I also love spending time outdoors, climbing trees, dancing to electronic music, cooking, and solving stupid problems in clever ways.
Things I hate the most: Wasps and the removal of aux ports in phones.
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I’ve struggled with parasomnias for over a decade and during one of my episodes I hallucinated a line of creatures aggressively trying to hand me baskets filled with soap. This is actually why I got into psychology.
My motto: "Stay curious, stay inquisitive" - Milo Rossi
Gabriel Lennartsson
Research assistant, gabriel.lennartsson@psy.gu.se
I am currently studying the psychology programme. My background includes experience on an fMRI project investigating how adenosine receptors influence anxiety-related processes in the brain. I’m passionate about research that deepens our understanding of mental health and helps improve treatment outcomes.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: I’m a music fanatic - I love both producing and listening to it. I also enjoy video games and films.
Things I hate the most: Mushrooms and crustaceans should NOT be consumed.
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I once tried cooking pasta in a coffee mug in the microwave because I didn’t want to boil a whole pot.
My motto: "It’s hard to regret making the choice that you think is right.” - Porter Robinson
Shupeng Yang
Research assistant, shupeng.yang@psy.gu.se
I am currently a master's student in Psychological Science, where I am actively learning fMRI technology to explore the mysteries of the human brain. My research background includes using EEG/ERP to investigate the neural mechanisms of gender stereotype processing in sentence comprehension, as well as exploring privacy disclosure behaviors on location-based applications. I am passionate about deepening our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying how we perceive and process the world.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: I love the outdoors and stay active through skateboarding and hiking—I've even climbed snowy mountains over 5,000 meters! I also enjoy collecting Japanese ceramics, spending time with my cats, exploring great food and coffee spots, and singing.
Things I hate the most: Eating overly sweet Sichuan food abroad! Authentic Sichuan cuisine is supposed to be mouth-numbingly spicy (málà), not sweet.
Weirdest thing I’ve done: Strutting around my neighborhood wearing my mom's high heels when I was a little kid.
My motto: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." – Annie Dillard
Hampus Larsson
Research assistant, hampus.larsson@psy.gu.se
Currently completing an MSc in Psychological Science. My interests span the neural mechanisms that support and shape cognition, core cognitive processes such as attention, perception, and memory, and methodology. More broadly, I’m curious about how minds emerge from biological systems and how we, as organisms embedded in the cosmos, construct internal representations and build shared knowledge of reality.
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: In my free time, I enjoy the outdoors, good food, spending time with my dog, friends and family, and a nice chat over a beer at the local bar.
Things I hate the most: Hate is a strong word, but I genuinely dislike aimless mingling at social gatherings. I’m also not a big fan of time — it always seems to rush ahead.
Weirdest thing I’ve done: Jumped out of a plane. It was great.
My motto: In the absence of inherent reason, freedom need not be found — it is simply the default.
Miranda Nordin
Research assistant, miranda.nordin@psy.gu.se
I’m a freshman in the psychological science master’s program. Since my bachelor I’ve worked at the psychiatry with intensive care and psychosis, in criminal care (both in custody and in the institution for youths) and besides my studies I currently work part time at a psychiatric residence for psychosis patients, as well as (the wonderful privilege to be) here with this amazing team!
Outside of work
Interests and hobbies: I’m interested in how things work! Everything from refrigerators to why we exist. Some questions harder to solve than others. Like refrigerators? Super advanced. Other than that, I spend most of my time with my friends and family, with my piano and my songwriting-notebook, with my sewing machine, in the kitchen, on a biking road, by the water, in the forest, on my latest DIY-project or cursing bc I was late for yoga.
Things I hate the most: I do not love spiders. (I also don’t love unevenly distributed resources as a general idea, as well as forty-hour-working-weeks and profit-purpose-privatizations etc…).
Weirdest thing I’ve done: I’m a very successful self-critic (and anxious person) with questionable impulse control so I think more or less everything I do is weird unfortunately.
My motto: Det löser sig (nog)!