Sabrena Tuy, M.A.

Email

Primary Email: [email protected]

Phone/Fax

Primary Phone: 858-735-3601

Building/Location

5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92182

Website Links

• LinkedIn
• Research Gate

Bio

I am a first-year PhD student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. I am mentored by Dr. Ruth Carper. Having obtained my BA from Point Loma Nazarene University and my MA from San Diego State University, I have pursued research experiences related to neuropsychology and social neuroscience.

While in my doctoral program, I will be researching aging autistic adults and examining neurobehavioral differences in the ACC, NAc, and related regions in connection with social communication/interaction.

Post-program completion, I would like to become a Board Certified Clinical Neuropsychologist and eventually study the neurobehavioral relationship between neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration.

Education

• Doctoral Student, Clinical Psychology, Neuropsychology Track, San Diego State University (SDSU)/University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Joint Doctoral Program (JDP)
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• Master of Arts (M.A.), Psychology, 2023-2025
  
  • San Diego State University
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• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Psychology, 2017-2021
  Therapeutic and Community Psychology Concentration
  Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU)

Areas of Specialization

Neurodevelopment/Neurodiversity, Neurodegeneration, Lifespan, Multimodal Neuroimaging, Brain Regions Associated with Executive Functioning, Social Behavior, and Emotion Regulation (Anterior Cingulate Cortex - ACC, Nucleus Accumbens - NAc)

Fun Facts

I am an autistic scholar who really loves the original SpongeBob :)

Mentors

Ruth Carper, Ph.D., SDSU

Awards & Honors

2025, Graduate Student Travel Award, SDSU
2024, Psychology Department Teaching Assistant Award, SDSU
2023, Trainee Professional Development Award (TDPA), Society for Neuroscience (SfN) – John I. Simpson Fund
2020-2021, Alumni Endowed Scholarship, PLNU
2020-2021, Ross & Sharon Irwin Endowed Scholarship, PLNU
2019, Student Employee Award, PLNU
2019-2021, Psychology Department Scholarship, PLNU
2017-2021, Dean’s List, PLNU

Research

Sabrena studies neuroimaging in individuals with autism across various age populations, exploring differences in neurobehavioral aspects between autistic and neurotypical individuals. She does this with neuroimaging methods such as structural, functional, and diffusion MRI as well as spectroscopy.

Presentations

• • Bloomer, B. F., Pedrahita, S., Cordova, M., Tuy, S., Linke, A., C., Hau, J., Elden, M., Toro, G., Kinnear, M., Kohli, J., Müller, R. A., & Carper, R. (2026, April 22-25). Cerebellar Lobular Volumes and Motor Performance in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults. [Poster Presentation]. International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.
  • Bloomer, B. F., Pedrahita, S., Cordova, M., Kohli, J., Tuy, S., Linke, A. C., Hau, J., Elden, M., Toro, G., Kinnear, M., Müller, R. A., & Carper, R. (2025, November 15-19). Cerebellar lobular volumes in middle-age and older adults with autism spectrum disorder. [Poster Presentation]. Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Conference, San Diego, California.
  • Cordova, M., Hau, J., Pedrahita, S., Kohli, J., Wilkinson, M., Elden, M., Tuy, S., Linke, A., Fishman, I., Müller, R. A., & Carper, R. (2025, September 4-6). Subcortico-Cortical White-Matter Tracts and Executive Function in Older Autistic Adults. [Poster Presentation]. Flux Annual Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Yakir, M. J., Mahmalji, J., Rios, A., Herrera, M., Tuy, S., Boxberger, A., Cordova, M., Bhattacharjee, R., Fishman, I., & Linke, A. C. (2025, June 8-11). Relationship of auditory hyperexcitability and sleep efficiency in children with autism spectrum disorder. [Poster Presentation]. Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) SLEEP Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.
  • Yakir, M. J., Mahmalji, J., Rios, A., Herrera, M., Cordova, M., Boxberger, A., Tuy, S., Fishman, I., Linke, A. C., & Bhattacharjee, R. (2025, June 8-11). Comparison of objective and subjective sleep data in children with autism spectrum disorder. [Poster Presentation]. Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) SLEEP Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.
  • Linke, A. C., Pedrahita, S., Cordova, M., Wilkinson, M., Tuy, S., Toro, G., Alemu, K., Kohli, J., Hau, J., Müller, R. A., & Carper, R. (2025, June 8-11). Lower BOLD-CSF coupling is associated with sleep problems and reduced cognitive function in 40-70 year-old autistic adults. [Poster Presentation]. Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) SLEEP Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.
  • Tuy, S., Hau, J., Rios, A., Herrera, M., Pedrahita, S., Carper, R. A., Fishman, I., Müller, R. A., & Linke, A. (2025, April 30-May 3). Diffusion weighted imaging of the anterior cingulate cortex in toddlers and preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. [Poster Presentation]. International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.
  • Nguyen, A., Zhang, J., Rezaie Boroon, P., Conway, K., Tuy, S., Weisberg, S., Iskakova, M. K., Villata, N., Aguilar-Rivera, M., & Smith, M. L. (2024, October 5-9). Food Deprivation Suppresses the Social Transfer of Pain. [Poster Presentation]. Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Rezaie Boroon, P., Dothard, M., Allard, S., Tuy, S., Conway, K., Keisler, M. N., Zhang, J., Gilbert, J., & Smith, M. L. (2024, October 5-9). The Response of the Gut Microbiome to the Social Transfer of Pain in Mice. [Poster Presentation]. Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Yang, R., Tuy, S., Dougherty, L. R., & Wiggins, J. L. (2024, May 23-26). Developmental Risk and Resilience Profiles and their Transition Pathways in the ABCD Study. [Poster presentation] Association for Psychological Science (APS) Annual Conference, San Francisco, California.
  • Yuan, Y., Peterson, E. O., Cutshaw, O., Tuy, S., Parker, A. J., Reed, E., & Wiggins, J. L. (2024, April 11-13). Neural patterns following frustrative nonreward in adolescents with varying sexual abuse exposure. [Poster presentation] Social and Affective Neuroscience (SANS) Conference, Toronto, Canada.
  • Tuy, S., Rezaie Boroon, P., Iskakova, M. K., Singh, G., Wu, C., Thomas, M., Rein, B. A., Malenka, R. C., & Smith, M. L. (2023, November 11-15). Mouse Models of Autism Demonstrate Deficits in Empathy. [Poster presentation] Society...

Publications

• • Dothard, M. I., Boroon, P., Tuy, S. C., Zhang, J., Allard, S., Smith, M. L., & Gilbert, J. A. (2026). My Gut Feels Your Pain – The Social Transfer of Pain Remodels the Gut Microbiome.
  • Yuan, Y., Peterson, E. O., Cutshaw, O., Tuy, S., Yu, Q., Parker, A. J., Reed, E., & Wiggins, J. L. (Under review). Neural recovery after blocked reward in adolescents with varying sexual abuse trauma symptoms. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
  • Tuy, S., Linke, A., & Carper, R. C. (2025). Findings of NODDI Data in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex of Autistic and Typically Developing Toddlers (Order No. 32240937). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Sciences and Engineering Collection; ProQuest One Academic. (3245831887).
  • Yang, R., Tuy, S., Dougherty, L. R., & Wiggins, J. L. (2024). Risk and resilience profiles and their transition pathways in the ABCD Study. Development and Psychopathology, 1–10. 
  • Rein, B., Raymond, K., Boustani, C., Tuy, S., Zhang, J., St. Laurent, R., Pomrenze, M. B., Boroon, P., Heifets, B., Smith, M. L., & Malenka, R. C. (2024). MDMA enhances empathy-like behaviors in mice via 5-HT release in nucleus accumbens. Science Advances, 10(17).
  • Rein, B., Jones, E., Tuy, S., Boustani, C., Johnson, J. A., Malenka, R. C., & Smith. M. L. (2022). Protocols for the social transfer of pain and analgesia in mice. STAR Protocols, 3(4), 101756.

Service

• • "2025-2026, Medium-Term Trainee, Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND), San Diego
  • 2018-2019, Secretary, Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society – PLNU Chapter, PLNU"