Zahra Jafari

Phone: (403) 394-3981

Biography

I am a research associate in the Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CCBN), at the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada. I was graduated in Cognitive Neuroscience (Ph.D.) and Audiology (B.Sc. and M.Sc.). My current areas of research are commonly focused on auditory cognitive neuroscience. In CCBN, I am working on the risk factors of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), such as auditory dysfunction (hearing loss and tinnitus), environmental noise exposure, and stress in both humans and non-human animal models.

Recent Publications

  1. Jafari Z, Perani D, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Bilingual experience and intrinsic functional connectivity in adults, aging, and Alzheimer’s disease. Ann N Y Acad Sci. In Press.
  2. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Age-related hearing loss, and cognitive decline: MRI and Cellular evidence. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2021. Jun 10. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14617.
  3. Rezaei Z, Jafari Z, Afrashteh N, Torabi R, Singh S, Bryan BE. Kolb, Jörn Davidsen, Mohajerani MH. Prenatal stress dysregulates resting-state functional connectivity and sensory motifs. Neurobiol Stress. May 27.(*authors contributed equally)
  4. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness in COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Can Neurol Sci. 2021, Apr12.
  5. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Neural oscillations and brain stimulation in Alzheimer’s disease. Prog Neurobiol. 2020, 194: 101878.
  6. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex and P50 gating in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Ageing Res Rev. 2020, 56: 101028.
  7. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Auditory dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord. 2020, 25(4): 537-50.
  8. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Age-related hearing loss and tinnitus, dementia risk, and hearing amplification outcomes. Ageing Res Rev. 2019, 56. 100963.
  9. Jafari Z, Copps T, Hole G, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Noise damage accelerates auditory aging and tinnitus: a Canadian population-based study. Otol Neurotol. 2020, 41(10): 1316-26.
  10. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Noise exposure accelerates the risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: adulthood, gestational, and prenatal mechanistic evidence from animal studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020, 117: 110-28.
  11. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Life-course contribution of prenatal stress in regulating the neural modulation network underlying the prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex in male Alzheimer’s disease mice. Cerebral Cortex. 2019.
  12. Jafari Z, Okuma M, Karem H, Mehla J, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Prenatal noise stress aggravates β-amyloid pathology and cognitive decline in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiology of Aging. 2019 30;77:66-86.
  13. Jafari Z, Mehla J, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Gestational stress augments postpartum β-amyloid pathology and cognitive decline in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Cerebral Cortex. 2018.
  14. Jafari Z, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Chronic traffic noise stress accelerates brain pathology and cognitive decline in mice. Experimental Neurology. 2018; 308: 1-12.
  15. Jafari Z, Mehla J, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Prenatal noise stress impairs HPA-axis and cognitive performance in mice. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7(1):10560.
  16. Jafari Z, Faraji J, Mirza Agha B, Metz GAS, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. The adverse effects of auditory stress on mouse uterus receptivity and behavior. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7(1):4720.
  17. Jafari Z, Afrashte N, Mehla J, Kolb BE, Mohajerani MH. Corticosterone response to gestational stress and postpartum memory function in mice. PLoS One. 2017; 10; 12(7):e0180306.
  18. Jafari Z, Kolb B, Mohajerani MH. Effect of acute stress on auditory processing: a systematic review of human studies. Reviews in the Neurosciences. 2017; 28(1): 1-13.
  19. Omidvar S, Jafari Z. Association between tinnitus and temporomandibular joint disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. 2019.
  20. Omidvar S, Mahmoudian S, Khabazkhoob M, Ahadi M, Jafari Z. Impact of tinnitus on speech and non-speech stimuli. Otology & Neurotology. 2018; 39(10):e921-e928.
  21. Aghamolaei M, Jafari Z, Grimm S, Zarnowiec K, Najafi-Koopaie M, Escera E. The effects of aging on early stages of the auditory deviance detection system. Clinical Neurophysiology. 2018; 129 (11):2252-2258.
  22. Saffarian A, Amiri Y, Shahidi GA, Jafari Z. Psychometric properties of the Persian affective voices test in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Voice. 2018; S0892-1997(17): 30211-4.
  23. Jafari Z, Esmaili M, Delbari A, Mehrpour M, Mohajerani MH. Auditory temporal processing deficits in chronic stroke: a comparison between right and left brain damages. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases. 2016; 25 (6): 1403-10.
  24. Jafari Z, Esmaili M, Delbari A, Mehrpour M, Mohajerani MH. Post stroke acquired amusia: a comparison between right and left brain damages. Neurorehabilitation. 2017; 40 (2):233-241.