Events Calendar

NL Seminar- Multi-site genetic analysis of the brain’s white matter: ENIGMA-DTI

Speaker: Neda Jahanshad, (USC/ISI)

Talk Title: Multi-site genetic analysis of the brain’s white matter: ENIGMA-DTI

Series: Natural Language Seminar

Abstract: The functioning regions of the brain are connected through a complex network of fibers, described by the brain’s white matter. Non-invasive imaging using MRI-based diffusion imaging can help capture important characteristics of the connections by describing the strength and directionality profile of water diffusion along white matter fibers. Variability in these connections have been noted in many neurological, degenerative, and psychiatric disorders where ultimately information transfer from on brain region to the other may be weakened or completely compromised. To discover genetic risk factors for altered connectivity and common genetic variants which put the brain at subtle risk for weakened connections, we find power in sample size and pool multiple datasets from around the world to determine common effects in all populations. However, there is no standard method for acquiring diffusion images and standardizing measures across datasets is an ongoing challenge. The Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis group on Diffusion Tensor Imaging has established a set of basic protocols to overcome a portion of these challenges, which I will describe, along with works-in-progress to tackle additional obstacles to reveal critical details of the brains network.

Biography: Neda Jahanshad is an assistant professor of Neurology at USC in the Imaging Genetics Center at ISI. She received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at UCLA in 2012 where she worked on optimizing diffusion imaging protocols to map structural brain connections in large populations. She has since extended the work to explore methods of pooling such imaging data from across the world and determine genetic and environmental contributions to the connectivity of the brain and determine how these effects vary across the lifespan. She is coordinating one of the largest studies of the brain's white matter through the ENIGMA Consortium http://enigma.ini.usc.edu.

Host: Nima Pourdamghani and Kevin Knight

More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/

Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 6th Flr Conf Rm # 689, Marina Del Rey

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Peter Zamar

Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/