Brain Atlas for Late Adulthood
Older individuals represent 15% of the United States population, and this is expected to exceed 20% by 2050. It is therefore critical that we improve our understanding of the physiology of healthy brain aging and the mechanisms that may lead to dysfunction in older adults. It is well accepted that the brain is functionally organized into multiple interacting networks. The reliable and reproducible identification of brain functional networks crucially depends on the use of reference functional atlases. Extensive literature has demonstrated that the spatial and functional organization of the brain connectome shows age-related alterations in later life. Yet, there is currently no reference brain functional atlas derived from older adults, and this may undermine the validity and reliability of neuroimaging research in late adulthood. In this context, this project aims to construct and validate the first ever functional reference brain atlas for adults above the age of 55 years and to demonstrate its value in predicting cognitive function in healthy older adults and in individuals with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment. This project has the potential to improve the characterization of the brain functional connectome and its links to cognition in late adulthood.
Participate
Our studies are actively seeking participants for research studies. Please fill out the form below if you would like to sign up. If you have any questions about participation, please email BRAIC.Lab@boystown.org or call (531) 355-6703 and we will get back to you.
Relevant Publications:
G. E. Doucet, L. Labache, P. Thompson, M. Joliot, S. Frangou (2021) Atlas55+: A brain functional atlas for resting-state networks for late adulthood. Cerebral Cortex. 31: 1719–1731.
G. E. Doucet, W. H. Lee, S. Frangou (2019) Evaluation of the spatial variability in the major resting-state networks across human brain functional atlases. Human Brain Mapping.40:4577-4587.
G. Doucet, M. Naveau, L. Petit, N. Delcroix, L. Zago, F. Crivello, G. Jobard, N. Tzourio-Mazoyer, B. Mazoyer, E. Mellet and M. Joliot. (2011) Brain activity at rest: A multi-scale hierarchical functional organization. Journal of Neurophysiology 105(6):2753-63.
