The November speaker for CCBBI's fMRI Talk Series is Dr. Randy McIntosh. Dr. McIntosh is the BC Leadership Chair in Neuroscience and Technology Transfer Across the Lifespan and Direct of the Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology at Simon Fraser University. Please visit the McIntosh Lab website to learn more about Dr. McIntosh's research interests.
Talk Title: Using The Virtual Brain to trace trajectories of brain health in ageing
Abstract: We introduced TheVirtualBrain (TVB) to the neuroscience community a decade ago. It was the first platform for creating large-scale simulations of human brain networks and has continued to evolve as a community project, extending to multiple basic and clinical applications and extensions to models of rodent and macaque brains. A singular feature of TVB is that the brain models can be constructed from an individual’s neuroimaging data, giving a great degree of specificity. This is especially relevant in studies across the lifespan, where the biophysical parameters of the model have a direct neurophysiological interpretation (e.g., neural excitation/inhibition). This feature of TVB results in great prediction of cognitive function across age-groups, and by connecting potential trajectories between groups, may provide new information on paths that reflect good brain health. We can extend this to age-related dysfunction, such as dementia, opening a potential for early detection of problematic trajectories and developing mitigation strategies.
