4. Charting life-course functional connectome using normative modeling

COEX 

The emergence, development, and aging of the intrinsic connectome architecture enables the dynamic reorganization of functional specialization and integration throughout the lifespan, contributing to continuous changes in human cognition and behavior. Understanding the spatiotemporal growth process of the typical functional connectome is critical for elucidating network-level developmental principles in healthy individuals and for pinpointing periods of heightened vulnerability or potential. The normative modeling framework provides an invaluable tool for mapping life-span growth curves in the human brain connectome. In this educational course, I will show you how to conduct a comprehensive network normative modeling analysis to delineate the nonlinear trajectories of the functional connectome across multiple scales. Firstly, I will highlight the methodological challenges inherent in charting the functional connectome's development over the lifespan, such as establishing templates and parcellations for varying ages, and constructing individualized networks. Then, we will embark on characterizing lifespan changes and rates of change in the overall patterns of the whole-brain functional connectome. With the construction of the first continuous age-related, system-level atlases across the lifespan, I’ll elucidate the distinct growth patterns across brain systems. Following that, we’ll focus on the spatiotemporal principles that govern connectome growth at a finer vertex-level resolution. Finally, I’ll spotlight the potential clinical application of the life-span normative connectome model, by a multiscale characterization to quantify the heterogeneity of participants with autism spectrum disorder and major depressive disorder using individual deviation scores.

Stats:
(Duration: 40min; Presenter Lianglong Sun; Format: Talk and Live Demonstration in R and Markdown in follow-along format; Programming language: R Language; Libraries and Toolboxes: TBD; Degree of interactivity: 60%)

Relevant papers:
Sun, Lianglong, et al. ‘Functional Connectome through the Human Life Span’. bioRxiv: The Preprint Server for Biology, Sept. 2023, p. 2023.09.12.557193. PubMed, https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.12.557193.