“The role of the connectome in health, disease and recovery”

Amy Kuceyeski, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mathematics in Radiology and Neuroscience, Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine White matter pathways provide the backbone for transmission of electrical signals between disparate brain regions, allowing communication and coordination for proper cognitive, physical and behavioral functioning of the individual. The area of connectomics, i.e. measurement and analysis of the structural (white matter) and functional (activation) connectivity network, has exploded in recent years. Measurement of the connectome at a whole-brain level in vivo can be performed using diffusion MRI (structural connectome) and EEG, MEG or functional MRI (functional connectome). How a particular pattern of damage, due to, for example, stroke, multiple sclerosis or traumatic brain injury, will affect an individual’s cognitive or physical function has not been fully characterized. Our lab's long-term goals are to use computational approaches applied to neuroimaging data to understand how damage/disease impacts the connectomes, how this damage maps to subsequent impairments and how the brain compensates for such damage. If we can understand these questions, we can develop novel, personalized rehabilitation methods that enhance the natural recovery processes in the brain to support restoration of cognitive and physical abilities. Quantitative connectomics could serve to greatly increase the ability of physicians to diagnose, understand and treat debilitating neurological disorders.