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[MCWG] Molecular Connectivity Newsletter: June 2025

Molecular Connectivity Working Group Newsletter

June 2025

Greetings from the MCWG!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for May’s MCOS with Simon Eickhoff, PhD! Missed it? The recording is available here


🧠 OHBM 2025 – Brisbane, Australia

June 24-28, 2025

Heading to the Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2025 in Brisbane?
We’ve put together a list of events and presentations showcasing recent advances in molecular connectivity.
We hope to see you there!

🧠 Keynote Presentation
Sharna Jamadar, PhD
Glucodynamics and the metabolic network of the human brain
🗓 June 28 | ⏰ 10:30–11:15

🧠 Symposium: Relationship between Brain Energy Consumption and Brain Organizations
Organizer: Xin Di
🗓 June 27 | ⏰ 9:00–10:15
Featured Talks:

  • Bridging Glucose Metabolism and Intrinsic Functional Organization of the Human CortexBin Wan
  • The brain’s “dark energy” puzzle: How strongly is glucose metabolism linked to resting-state brain activity?Alessandra Bertoldo
  • Simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI identifies temporally coupled, spatially structured hemodynamic and metabolic dynamics across wakefulness and NREM sleepJingyuan Chen
  • Ageing is associated with a high glucose cost in hub regions of the metabolic networkHamish Deery

🧠 Symposium: Validating brain connectivity measures: integrating biological, statistical, and clinical evidence
Organizers: Chris Habeck, Arianna Sala, Daniel Talmasov, Vesna Sossi
Moderators: James Pang, Felix Hoffstaedter
🗓 June 27 | ⏰ 15:45–17:00
Featured Talks:

  • Brain-wide analysis of functional and physical connectivity using molecular MRIAlan Jasanoff
  • Multiverse analysis in graph-based fMRI researchAndrea Hildebrandt
  • Benchmarking methods for mapping functional connectivity in the brainZhen-Qi Liu
  • Metabolic brain networks in the evaluation of patients with neurodegenerative disorders: rigorous validation done rightMatej Perovnik

🧠 Oral Presentation
Mengyuan Liu
Unveiling the biological substrates of glucose metabolic covariance in the human brain
🗓 June 28 | ⏰ 11:42–11:54

📝 Featured Abstract
Power and Discordance of Exercise Intervention on Parkinson’s Disease fMRI Functional Connectivity
Authors: Erik Reimers, Connor W. J. Bevington, Jess McKenzie, Sahib Dhaliwal, A. Jon Stoessl, Vesna Sossi


🧠 PET is Wonderful 2025

2nd – 4th July 2025 • Edinburgh, UK

Featuring two days Education Workshop and one day Scientific meeting on PET. Highlights include an educational session on Network analysis and radiomics in total-body PET imaging by Dr. Thomas Beyer. More information about the event click here.


🧠 New Study Spotlight

📝 Glucose metabolism in hyper-connected regions predicts neurodegeneration and speed of conversion in Alzheimer’s disease
Longitudinal analysis of brain metabolic connectivity on neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. Read the full study in Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging.
Key Findings:

  • Early AD shows both hypo‑ and hyper‑connectivity in different brain networks 
  • Two distinct pathological clusters emerged: hypo‑connected default mode and hyper‑connected limbic
  • Hyper-connectivity in limbic regions predicts faster metabolic decline and quicker progression to dementia

📝 Innate [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose PET bone networks of lung cancer patients predict survival
Newly proposed network analysis performs better than conventional SUV PET analysis, and should be considered as a prognostication tool in the management of NSCLC patients. Read the full study in Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging.
Key Findings:

  • Conventional lung tumour SUV peak analysis of PET data cannot predict NSCLC patient survival 
  • Network analysis of bone glucose metabolism pre-chemoradiation can significantly predict patient survival
  • Innate pre-treatment skeletal glucose metabolism networks of NSCLC patients can predict patient survival in contrast with adapted post-treatment networks

📝 Mapping serotonergic dynamics using drug-modulated molecular connectivity in rats
Brain molecular connectivity was measured using combined serotonin PET and resting-state fMRI providing insights into the effects of ecstasy administration. Read the full study in Neuroscience eLife.
Key Findings:

  • A detailed comparison using molecular connectivity and traditional measures of brain connectivity revealed significant patterns aligned with physiological changes
  • Clear changes in molecular connectivity after a single dose of MDMA, establishing a direct link between the effects of drugs on serotonin transporter occupancy and changes in the functional brain network
  • High anaesthetic dose used likely limiting network activity

📝 Multiplex connectomics reveal altered networks in frontotemporal dementia: A multisite study
A recent multisite study employed an innovative multiplex connectomics framework integrating cortical thickness and FDG-PET data to uncover how brain networks are disrupted in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). An employed dual-layer approach provides a new lens to understand neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. Read the full study in Network Neuroscience.
Key Findings:

  • Increased Global MPC: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) showed significantly higher global multiplex participation coefficient (MPC) compared to controls at both sites
  • Frontal and Temporal Disruptions: Both bvFTD and PPA showed altered nodal MPC in anterior cingulate, parahippocampal, temporal pole, and frontal regions
  • PPA Exhibited More Extensive Changes: Compared to behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), PPA demonstrated broader network disruptions, especially in temporal and left frontal areas
  • Reduced Global Overlapping Degree: Patients with PPA had lower global overlapping degree than controls, reflecting disrupted integration across imaging modalities
  • Consistent Across Sites: Findings replicated across two geographically distinct cohorts, underscoring robustness of the multiplex approach

📝 Single-Subject Network Analysis of FDOPA PET in Parkinson’s Disease and Psychosis Spectrum
In this study, a statistical framework was proposed combining molecular imaging data with perturbation covariance analysis to construct single-subject networks and investigate individual patterns of molecular alterations. Mapping molecular imaging networks presents a new and powerful method for characterizing individualized disease trajectories as well as for evaluating treatment effectiveness. Read the full study in Hum Brain Mapp.
Key Findings:

  • Single-subject networks effectively capture molecular alterations, differentiate individuals with heterogeneous conditions, and account for within-group variability
  • The approach successfully distinguishes between preclinical and clinical stages of psychosis and identifies the corresponding molecular connectivity changes in response to antipsychotic medications

📝 Fully automated estimation of fMRI-guided SPECT brain networks and their functional network connectivity in schizophrenia patients versus controls: A NeuroMark ICA approach
In this study, a fully automated, spatially constrained ICA (sc-ICA) approach to evaluate functional network connectivity profiles in SPECT data using the NeuroMark pipeline was presented. The expression of brain networks along with the whole brain SPECT connectome to evaluate neuroimaging links to schizophrenia were evaluated. Read the full study in Aperture Neuro.
Key Findings:

  • SPECT results showed stronger covariation with CC-SC, CC-AUD, and DM-AUD networks
  • Many components showed reduced connectivity in patients
  • For the task data, connectivity between the cognitive control – default mode network was found in rest-task data after FDR correction
  • Large scale network disruptions consistent with prior schizophrenia fMRI studies

The MCOS promotes rigor in research and resource sharing. We aim to hold MCOS every third Friday of the month, subject to change due to speaker availability. 

Please stay tuned for MCOS updates and reminders on social media!
Thank you!

Call for announcements, job opportunities, information and news!

The MCWG Outreach Council invites you to submit announcements or information about papers, conferences, presentations or other events or news related to brain and molecular connectivity as well as any positions available or job opportunities that you wish to publicize and share with the community!

Please submit any material for consideration by the final day of each month using this form – thank you!


Who we are

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!


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[MCWG] Molecular Connectivity Newsletter: June 2024

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