Invited Lecture: The myelin-weighted connectome: A new look at neurodegenerative diseases
#myelin
#connectome
#neurodegenerative
#diseases
Myelin plays a crucial role in how reliably the signal travels from one neuron to another. Many neurological diseases affect myelin and cause disturbed signal transmission in the brain network. A convenient way to better understand not just pathology, but also how the brain works, is through connectomics. Connectomics provides a unique way to model the brain as a network of interconnected regions. Additionally, it is common to assign weights to the connections that could represent some underlying microstructural property. However, the well-established standard diffusion-derived measures (such as the fractional anisotropy (FA) and the number of streamlines) lack specificity. Therefore, the connectomes weighted with the standard diffusion-derived metrics may not be able to fully characterize the underlying changes caused by a specific pathology.
This talk focuses on the myelin-weighted connectome, a novel method that complements the brain networks with a myelin-sensitive measure. A wide range of myelin-sensitive MRI-derived metrics can be used to weigh the connectome, including the longitudinal relaxation rate and the Magnetization Transfer Ratio. But the question is which one is better? After establishing the myelin-weighted connectome in healthy individuals, it was employed to study the alterations of myelin in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Generally, the studies show that the myelin-weighted connectome can offer a more comprehensive understanding of brain microstructure and the white matter myeloarchitecture. Moreover, it could potentially lead to the development of new biomarkers that can capture the early microstructural changes caused by pathologies affecting the myelin.
Date and Time
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- Date: 20 Dec 2022
- Time: 01:00 PM to 02:30 PM
- All times are (UTC+01:00) Skopje
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- Starts 16 December 2022 01:02 PM
- Ends 20 December 2022 02:00 PM
- All times are (UTC+01:00) Skopje
- No Admission Charge
Speakers
Tommy Boshkovski, PhD
Topic:
The myelin-weighted connectome: A new look at neurodegenerative diseases", by Tommy Boshkovski
Myelin plays a crucial role in how reliably the signal travels from one neuron to another. Many neurological diseases affect myelin and cause disturbed signal transmission in the brain network. A convenient way to better understand not just pathology, but also how the brain works, is through connectomics. Connectomics provides a unique way to model the brain as a network of interconnected regions. Additionally, it is common to assign weights to the connections that could represent some underlying microstructural property. However, the well-established standard diffusion-derived measures (such as the fractional anisotropy (FA) and the number of streamlines) lack specificity. Therefore, the connectomes weighted with the standard diffusion-derived metrics may not be able to fully characterize the underlying changes caused by a specific pathology.
This talk focuses on the myelin-weighted connectome, a novel method that complements the brain networks with a myelin-sensitive measure. A wide range of myelin-sensitive MRI-derived metrics can be used to weigh the connectome, including the longitudinal relaxation rate and the Magnetization Transfer Ratio. But the question is which one is better? After establishing the myelin-weighted connectome in healthy individuals, it was employed to study the alterations of myelin in individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Generally, the studies show that the myelin-weighted connectome can offer a more comprehensive understanding of brain microstructure and the white matter myeloarchitecture. Moreover, it could potentially lead to the development of new biomarkers that can capture the early microstructural changes caused by pathologies affecting the myelin.
Biography:
Tommy Boshkovski, PhD, is an applied neuroimaging engineer at QMENTA. After earning both a bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering and a master’s degree in Bioinformatics at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia, he received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal in Montréal, Canada. His primary research interests focus on the use of quantitative MRI to better characterize neurological diseases and the development of connectomics models to identify disease biomarkers. He is an active member of several societies, including the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM). As a member of ISMRM, he contributed to the development of educational materials and tools for quantitative MRI. He also played an active role in scientific communication by contributing to the Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Highlights magazine and the blog for Human Brain Mapping.
