Translational CAA Research Lab

About Our Research

Our lab is interested in the crosslinks between cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) and dementia. We use a combination of advanced neuroimaging techniques in human brain tissue and animal models to unravel the histopathological underpinnings of neuroimaging markers of SVD and to get at the pathophysiological mechanisms involved. Our research focuses on cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Sporadic CAA is one of the two most common forms of SVD affecting the brains of older individuals. CAA is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid β in the walls of leptomeningeal and cortical blood vessels, and frequently co-occurs with parenchymal amyloid β deposits in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with severe CAA have increased risk to suffer from symptomatic large intracerebral hemorrhages, which are often fatal. Even in the absence of these catastrophic hemorrhages, the accrual of numerous small silent ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes over time, can lead to cognitive impairment and dementia in affected individuals. Currently there are no effective treatment strategies available to cure or slow down the progression of the disease.

Our lab uses translational imaging approaches, ranging from ex vivo MRI-guided histopathology in human brain tissue to in vivo two-photon microscopy in mice to better understand the pathophysiology of sporadic and hereditary CAA. In particular, we are interested in unraveling the mechanisms of hemorrhage formation in CAA and studying the driving force of perivascular amyloid β clearance, with the goal to find novel targets for therapeutic intervention aimed at preventing hemorrhagic stroke and cognitive impairment in patients with SVD.

Our lab welcomes people from various backgrounds, as we believe that cultivating a work environment where everyone can thrive is essential to perform rigorous and groundbreaking science.

News (2025)

Part of the Translational CAA Research Lab has relocated to Edinburgh, to plant a new research program dedicated to advancing translational research into CAA in the United Kingdom, under the directorship of Prof. van Veluw. CAA research continues at MGH stronger than ever, under the dedicated leadership of Dr. Mariel Kozberg and Dr. Valentina Perosa. Please find out more about the three teams and their group members below.

Lab Members (summer 2023)

Susanne J. van Veluw, PhD (she/her): Principal Investigator, Associate Professor in Neurology (MGH/HMS)
Susanne trained as a neuroscientist in The Netherlands and received her PhD at the University Medical Center Utrecht. She moved to Boston to pursue her post-doctoral training with Drs. Steven Greenberg and Brian Bacskai, after which she joined the department of Neurology as a faculty member. Besides studying the biological mechanisms in CAA disease progression, she has a passion for mentoring trainees and a strong interest in philosophy and ethics. In the summer of 2025, she moved to Scotland to take up a personal chair of Translational Vascular Neuroscience within the BHF-UK DRI Centre for Vascular Dementia Research at the University of Edinburgh. She is incredibly grateful that several members of her team decided to move with her to build a new dedicated research team abroad.

Visit the Translational CAA Lab website at the University of Edinburgh.

Mariel G. Kozberg, MD, PhD (she/her): Assistant Professor in Neurology (MGH/HMS)
Mariel is a vascular neurologist at Mass General Brigham, where she completed her neurology residency and vascular neurology fellowship. She completed her MD and PhD degrees at Columbia University. Mariel’s current research focuses on vascular pathophysiology in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). She examines the neurovascular unit in mouse models of CAA through longitudinal 2-photon microscopy and widefield optical imaging. Mariel is also interested in the relationship between brain inflammation and hemorrhage in CAA, which she studies in both human tissue and mouse models.

Visit the Kozberg Lab website.

Valentina Perosa, MD, PhD (she/her): Assistant Professor in Neurology (MGH/HMS)
Valentina’s main interest is to explore how cerebral small vessel disease contributes to cognitive impairment. After completing medical school at the University of Magdeburg, she trained as a neurologist and focused her research on ageing and neurodegenerative disease. As a postdoc, Valentina currently investigates enlarged perivascular spaces in patients with CAA, combining post-mortem MRI and histopathology. With this work, we aim to gain more insight in the clearance mechanisms of amyloid β in CAA, which could have repercussions in better understanding the interactions between vascular and Alzheimer’s pathology.

Visit the Perosa Lab website

Alumni

Ajay George
Ashley A. Scherlek, BM
Brittney Moncrieffe, BS
Nazanin Makkinejad, PhD
Emma A. Koemans, MD
Irvin Yi
Jonathan E. Bonilla
Leon P. Munting, PhD
Maarten L. van den Berg, MD
Corinne A. Auger, BM
Whitney M. Freeze, PhD
Lydiane Hirschler, PhD
Lee Hanlin, BS
Nicole W. Mumbi 
K. Vi Trinh
Maria Clara Zanon Zotin, MD, PhD
L. Linzsey Lyle
Lydia K. Mroz
Gabi Poniz
Tiffani Gay
Orla Bonnar, PhD
Hilde van den Brink, PhD
Thijs W. van Harten, PhD
Alex Andre, PhD
Beth Eyre, PhD
Kali vom Eigen, BA

Resources

Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Research Program

CAA Forum