The symposium will be held in the morning of June 19th 2026 at Neurocampus facilities in Bordeaux immediately following the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) annual meeting. It builds on the success of our previous events: a satellite meeting held during the Brain & Brain PET and BrainPET conference in Glasgow in May 2022 and a first dedicated symposium held in Munich in May 2024.
The main topic of this symposium is investigation of best practices in molecular data processing and analysis. Outcomes of the symposium will facilitate not only more accurate and informative analysis approaches, but also promote more consistent analysis of multicentre studies. A white paper describing the outcomes is planned.
PLEASE JOIN US AND HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF MOLECULAR CONNECTIVITY
The welcome desk will open on June 19th at 8:00 and the symposium will start at 8:30 with welcome notes by the symposium chairs.
While in-person presence is preferred, a personal link to connect virtually will be sent to all those who register.
Registration deadlines: June 14th for in-person and June 17th for virtual registrations.
We have assembled a superb list of speakers with the preliminary program listed below. The symposium will provide a forum for a vibrant exchange of ideas with the aim of significantly contributing to defining best practices in data analysis in this rapidly evolving field. Please join us in this very important effort. Any updates will be posted on our website and communicated in the newsletter – stay tuned!
8:30 – 08:40 Welcome & Introduction by the organizers (Matthieu Doyen, Igor Yakushev)
Chairs: Joachim Mazere, Arianna Sala
08:40 – 09:10 (30 min) Molecular connectivity in the broader context of fMRI and other modalities
Bratislav Misic, McGill University (Canada)
09:10 – 9:30 (20 min) Introduction to molecular connectivity and nomenclature (Delphi study)
Sharna Jamadar, Monash University (Australia)
9:30 – 9:50 (20 min) Methods for estimation of molecular connectivity with emphasis on technical aspects
Mattia Veronese, University of Padua (Italy)
09:50 – 10:10 (20 min) Preprocessing: Data harmonization, PVC, normalization
Martin Nørgaard, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
10:10 – 10:30 Coffee break
Chairs: Xin Di, Martin Norgaard
10:30 – 10:50 (20 min) General prerequisites; population heterogeneity, statistical power, minimum number of subjects for inter- and intra-subject estimation
Arianna Sala, Université de Liège (Belgium)
10:50 – 11:10 (20 min) ROI-level estimation metrics: partial or Pearson correlation, Euclidean Similarity
Tommaso Volpi, Yale University (USA)
11:10 – 11:30 (20 min) Voxel-level estimation: SSM-PCA vs. ICA: which method and when? Selection of components, seed-based correlation
Matthieu Doyen, Université de Lorraine (France)
11:30 – 11:50 (20 min) Fusion of functional, structural and clinical information
Vince Calhoun, GSU, GATech, Emory University (USA)
11:50 – 12:10 (20 min) Statistical robustness; bootstrapping, corrections
Chris Habeck, Columbia University (USA)
12:10 – 13:00 Summary (Igor Yakushev, Arianna Sala, Joachim Mazere, Mattia Veronese, Matthieu Doyen)
13:00 – 14:00 Network Lunch
Registration is closed.
Places are limited. Please register now to secure a spot. There are no registration fees.
Registration deadlines: June 14th for in-person and June 17th for virtual registrations.
To facilitate access to early career researchers (PhD students or Post-docs) to our annual event on 19 June 2026 in Bordeaux, the Molecular Connectivity Working Group (MCWG), thanks to funding from France Alzheimer et maladies apparentées, will award seven travel bursaries this year. The bursary – up to €500, depending on travel costs – is intended to cover transport (economy/second class) and accommodation costs for the night before and/or after the symposium. The payment will be made upon presentation of invoices after the symposium.
The eligibility criteria are:
The following information will be requested on the application form:
Before submitting the application, candidates must first register for the event!
The application should be submitted via email to the following email address: molecularconnectivity@gmail.com until June 12, 2026, 23:59 CEST.
Applications will be reviewed by the symposium council of the MCWG. Where a conflict of interest exists between the Council member and applicant, a non-conflicted member of the larger MCWG will be invited to review the application. For the purposes of this award, a conflict of interest is defined as employment or completion of a degree at the applicants’ institution, or co-publication with the applicant (excluding co-authorship due to membership of large consortia like ENIGMA or ADNI). The committee will consider eligibility criteria and select recipients based on merit and need, with consideration given to gender equity and diversity. Priority will be given to applicants from countries with limited financial resources for scientific research and/or travel. Applicants will be notified via email of the selection decision no later than 6 days before the symposium.
We would like to thank our sponsors for their support!
Please contact admin@molecularconnectivity.com for any questions.