USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute Newsletter / Fall 2020
New Alzheimer’s Study Explores Link Between Vascular Dysfunction, Tau, and Amyloid
In a study published October 12 in the Journal of Neuroscience, an INI team found that impaired blood flow in the brain is correlated with the buildup of tau tangles. The team, led by Judy Pa, PhD, examined MRI and PET images, as well as cerebrospinal fluid. The results point to the importance of managing vascular risk factors—like high blood pressure, smoking, and physical inactivity—to aid in Alzheimer’s prevention. The study’s authors include INI Director Arthur W. Toga, PhD, Daniel Albrecht, PhD (lead author), Kay Jann, PhD, Lisette Isenberg, PhD, Teresa Monreal, PhD, and Joy Stradford.
Learn more about their findings or read the article.
INI MRI Scanner Receives First-Ever ACR Accreditation for Neuroimaging at 7T
The INI’s 7Tesla Siemens Magnetom Terra magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner is the first 7T system to receive accreditation from the American College of Radiology for neuroimaging. ACR accreditation is recognized as the “gold standard” in medical imaging, giving patients and physicians the assurance that the equipment is being maintained and operated to maximize image quality and patient safety.
Read more about the accreditation of our 7T scanner.
Big Data Neuroimaging Study Uncovers Shared Signature of Six Major Psychiatric Disorders
A new application of the large-scale datasets aggregated by the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium, created by INI Associate Director Paul Thompson, PhD, has revealed a common molecular signature that spans six major disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry in August, looked at cortical thickness data from more than 28,000 disease patients and healthy controls.
Read more about the team’s findings or explore the article.
Pinpointing the Brain Changes Behind Schizophrenia
In another study fueled by data from the ENIGMA network, a team led by Julio Villalón-Reina, MD, PhD, and Neda Jahanshad, PhD, of the INI’s Imaging Genetics Center conducted a large-scale diffusion imaging study of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). The genetic disorder, caused by a small segment of missing DNA on chromosome 22, is the strongest known genetic risk factor for schizophrenia. The results of their analysis were published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Learn more about their findings.
Making CT Scans Safer
The INI’s Danny JJ Wang, PhD, and his team are developing a new technique for computed tomography (CT) perfusion scans, which measure blood flow to the brain using a high dose of radiation. Research on the approach, known as K-space Weighted Image Average (KWIA), is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research program. KWIA reduces the radiation dose of CT perfusion by about 75% without compromising imaging speed or quality. The first study of KWIA was published in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging in July.
Read more about the new approach to CT scanning.
INI Leads New Collaborative AI Study of Alzheimer's Disease
The INI and its collaborators have received an award of nearly $18 million from the National Institute on Aging to conduct a new collaborative study of Alzheimer’s disease, uniting 40 co-investigators at 11 research centers. The initiative, led by INI Associate Director Paul Thompson, PhD, will develop state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) methods and apply them to giant databases of genetic, imaging, and cognitive data collected from Alzheimer’s patients. The team will leverage AI and machine learning to bolster precision diagnostics, prognosis, and the development of new treatments for the disease.
Read more about the new grant.
Interdisciplinary Study to Prevent Cognitive Decline
A team led by the INI’s Vishal Patel, MD, PhD, has received a USC Provost New Strategic Directions for Research Award to develop artificial intelligence methods for maintaining brain health across the lifespan. The interdisciplinary research will focus on the complex interactions between physiology, brain morphology, cognition, and psychology in order to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cognitive decline. In addition to Dr. Patel, the INI’s Hosung Kim, PhD, Sook-Lei Liew, PhD, and Farshid Sepehrband, PhD, will contribute to the research, as well as Mara Mather, PhD, Kaoru Nashiro, PhD, and Krishna Nayak, PhD, of USC.
TRAINING & OUTREACH
NIIN Program Adds Two New Courses
Beginning next semester, the INI’s Master of Science in Neuroimaging and Informatics (NIIN) program will offer two new elective courses. "Data Science in Neuroimaging” will teach students to prepare and quality check neuroimaging data, perform basic programming in Python, and perform standard statistical and machine learning techniques useful for analyzing large datasets. "Science Communication" will teach students to present scientific findings orally and in writing. Students in the course will also practice career development skills such as interviewing and crafting a strong curriculum vitae.
Learn more about the NIIN program and check out the video below to hear from one of our alums.
NSF Supplement Will Fund Research Assistants for COVID-ARC
The INI’s Dominique Duncan, PhD, received a supplemental grant from the National Science Foundation as part of the COVID-ARC project, which will aggregate data from COVID-19 studies around the world, provide researchers with access to the findings of international colleagues, and help forge collaborations to advance progress against the disease. The new funding will support Glendy Ramirez and Michael Sinclair, teachers from Bravo Medical Magnet High School.
Read more about COVID-ARC.
PEOPLE
New Tenure-Track Faculty
Michael Bienkowski, PhD, is now an Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience, as well as the new director of the INI’s Center for Integrative Connectomics. Dr. Bienkowski also holds a joint appointment at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.
MICCAI 2020 Super-MUDI Challenge
Haoyu Lan, an INI project assistant who works with Farshid Sepehrband, PhD, won the joint first prize of the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention's Super-MUDI challenge. His work used an adaptive machine learning framework to study diffusion MRI data.
ISMRM 2020 Merit Award Winner
Kirsten Lynch, PhD, also part of Dr. Sepehrband’s group, received a summa cum laude Merit Award and was featured in the Neuro: Clinical Highlights session at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine’s 2020 conference for her work on mapping perivascular space changes across the lifespan. The summa cum laude Merit Award was reserved for the top 5% of trainee abstracts at the conference.
Meet Our Featured Postdocs
Xinting Ge
Xinting Ge, PhD, received his doctorate in neuroimaging from the Shandong University School of Medicine in China. His research focuses on using multimodal neuroimaging techniques (e.g. PET and MRI) to investigate the biological substrates of Alzheimer's disease, with a particular interest in understanding how behavioral symptoms contribute to the aggregation of misfolded protein (i.e. tau) and cognitive decline. He is also working on a project that analyzes morphologic changes of specific brain regions and subregions during the development of the human fetal brain.
Marianna La Rocca
Marianna La Rocca, PhD, received her doctorate in physics applied to neuroscience from Bari University in Italy. Her research involves the use of multimodal neuroimaging techniques and computational methods to study neurodegenerative diseases and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. She is currently developing and applying complex network-based quantitative methods and machine learning techniques to electrophysiology and imaging data to identify validated biomarkers of epileptogenesis after traumatic brain injury. She is also working on COVID-ARC, which aims to develop a platform that stores and disseminates multimodal and longitudinal data related to COVID-19, and provides various statistical and analytic tools for researchers.
Kirsten Lynch
Kirsten Lynch, PhD, received her doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on using structural and diffusion imaging techniques to characterize typical and atypical brain development during childhood and adolescence, with a particular interest in mapping spatial patterns of microstructural maturation within the hippocampus and white matter. She is also working on a project to quantify the magnitude and timing of regional perivascular space enlargement across the lifespan and to determine their influence on cortical structure.
Check back in the next time to meet three more of our postdocs.
INI In The News
Poor Brain Blood Flow Might Spur 'Tangles' of Alzheimer's
Segment on Dr. Judy Pa’s Blood Flow and Alzheimer’s Disease Study
AAIC 2020: Multi-omics and Biomarkers Emerge as Key Elements in the Future of Alzheimer’s Research
Learn more about our research
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