Greetings!
Thanks to everyone in attendance at our MCOS in March with Vince Calhoun, PhD! Please find the recording here and the slides here. We welcome any feedback and hope to see you at our April MCOS seminar with Simon Eickhoff, PhD, next Friday 19 April! Time and registration information is below!
In this newsletter:
We are pleased to announce the fourth MCOS talk featuring Simon Eickhoff, PhD!
Date: April 19th, 2024
Time: 15:00 CET, 9:00 EST
Title: The many faces of brain connectivity
Please join us for this 30 minute presentation to be followed by discussion (~25 minutes).
Please register here.
Regional segregation and long-range integration are the two fundamental principles of brain organization. As connectivity patterns play a major role in both of these, assessing the the connectome has emerged as a key avenue towards a better understanding of the brain. Key to this presentation is the notion that there is no such thing as “the” connectivity between two brain regions, but rather different concepts, facets and assessment of brain connectivity may provide corroborating, complementary or conflicting evidence. Therefore, a better understanding of the relationship between connectivity-types and their integration to a more holistic view of long-range interactions should be critical to avoid an undue reliance on individual approaches that may actually hinder progress in neurobiological understanding.
Simon Eickhoff is a full professor and chair of the Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf and the director of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7, Brain and Behavior) at the Forschungszentrum Jülich. He is furthermore a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Science Institute of Automation. Working at the interface between neuroanatomy, data-science and brain medicine, he aims to obtain a more detailed characterization of the organization of the human brain and its inter-individual variability in order to better understand its changes in advanced age as well as neurological and psychiatric disorders. This goal is pursued by the development and application of novel analysis tools and approaches for large-scale, multi-modal analysis of brain structure, function and connectivity as well as by machine-learning for single subject prediction of cognitive and socio-affective traits and ultimately precision medicine.
The MCOS promotes rigor in research and resource sharing. We aim to hold MCOS every third Friday of the month, but is subject to change due to speaker availability.
Our next seminar will be held on Friday May 17th, 2024 at 15:00 CET, 9:00am EST featuring Joana Pereira, PhD who will discuss her work on brain connectivity in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Stay tuned for details in next month’s newsletter!
1. MCWG symposium
We are pleased to remind you that the second MCWG symposium:
“What is Brain Connectivity?”
will be held in Munich on 3 May (9:00 am – 1:00 pm CEST).
Registration for this hybrid event is free but only a few places are left, so don’t miss out on this opportunity !
🚨 Important information : Registration for in-person attendance will close on April 14th.
You can secure your spot by registering here.
During this event, international speakers will delve into the fascinating world of brain connectivity. Our program promises enlightening discussions and valuable insights from experts in the fields of fMRI, DWI, EEG, and molecular imaging.
This symposium will be followed by Sessions reserved to MCWG members and experts dedicated to “Molecular Imaging of Brain Connectivity: towards standardized nomenclature“ (📅 May 3-4).
🌐 Programme and info: tinyurl.com/MCWGMunich2024
We look forward to welcoming you to our symposium and exploring the exciting world of brain connectivity together!
2. We are very pleased to announce that OHBM 2024 will feature a symposium organized by members of the MCWG!
Date: June 24 2024
Time: 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Title: Brain connectivity: Ready for clinical applications? An overview of current challenges and caveats
Organized by Débora Peretti and Arianna Sala, the symposium is entitled “Brain connectivity: ready for clinical application? An overview of current challenges and caveats” and will feature presentations from Simon Eickhoff, Christian Habeck, Alessandro Gozzi, and Débora Peretti. In this symposium we discuss some of the most pressing methodological considerations that still need to be addressed by neuroscientists in order to obtain robust connectivity markers for inference and prediction. Both statistical and biological considerations will be covered, on the grounds that not only prediction of phenotypes from activation/connectivity data, but also understanding the mechanisms underlying inter-individual connectivity differences, are necessary to obtain robust, generalizable topographic substrates. Finally, an overview of the translation of connectivity metrics into clinical practice will be presented.
We invite you to please send information about events related to brain and molecular connectivity or news or job opportunities that you wish to share with the community for consideration by the final day of each month using this form.
1. Job Opening at the University of Geneva
Would you like to study different pathological mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease and its synergistic effect leading to clinical symptoms and progression?
The Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers Lab at the University of Geneva, lead by Prof. Valentina Garibotto, is currently looking for an enthusiastic PhD candidate interested in learning about Positron Emission Tomography imaging and the risk factors leading to Alzheimer’s disease.
Apply at: https://jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=1&p_web_page_id=64498
Please submit any news, including publications you would like highlighted or job listings related to brain connectivity and molecular connectivity that you would like to share with the community for consideration no later than the final day of each month using this form.
Stay tuned for upcoming features!
The MCWG is made up of four international and multidisciplinary councils dedicated to promoting molecular connectivity research via dissemination of methods, results, collaboration, and resource sharing (e.g. datasets, tools) within the scientific community. We encourage the neuroscientific community to take an integrative perspective in study of the brain connectome, where various methods including MRI-based techniques, electrophysiological tools, and molecular imaging advance our understanding of the brain. Please find fundamental questions outlined here: “Brain connectomics: time for a molecular imaging perspective?”
Our website can be found here. We also invite you to join the MCWG!
