Dr. Chen Lee is a candidate for the CCBBI Senior Research Scientist Position.
Probing Network Interactions Through Neuroimaging and Neuromodulation
Abstract: Brain networks exhibit hierarchical organization. Several canonical systems—including executive, visual, and default-mode networks (DMN)—have attracted substantial attention. When viewed at a broader spatial scale, brain dynamics may be partitioned into two major compartments: the outer cortical system and the limbic system, putatively supporting exteroceptive and interoceptive processing, respectively. These two perspectives correspond to two spatial scales of analysis: circuitry-level and compartment-level organization. In previous work, I demonstrated that the DMN conveys limbic flow. In this talk, I will present empirical evidence characterizing the features of these interactions. At the compartment level, I developed a functional parcellation scheme to facilitate network delineation and introduced a novel metric for quantifying large-scale network interactions. At the circuitry level, the emotion regulation (ER) network provides a surrogate arena for evaluating the interaction between the fronto-parietal (FP) network and the limbic system. I will present a meta-analytic analysis of ER that highlights these circuitry-level features.
By integrating neuromodulation and neuroimaging, I will further discuss the neural consequences of neuromodulatory stimulation. For compartment-level interactions, I will use transcranial electrical stimulation as a working example. Recent advances in neuromodulation have also enabled more precise targeting. Leveraging target-optimized transcranial magnetic stimulation, I will outline a prospective research direction aimed at delineating how cortical nodes of the DMN and nodes of the ER network differentially influence limbic dynamics—addressing the current knowledge gap regarding node-specific circuit effects, as no single cortical node is expected to uniformly modulate the entire limbic system.