New Genes linked to brain connectivity and dementia score in Alzheimer’s patients

Despite COVID-19 is still making headlines, Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common ailments in our aging society. New approaches for diagnosis and treatment are emerging, especially specific to certain brain regions. it’s very relevant to understand the ties between this disease pathology, brain connections and genetics.

A new study, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, explores the connections between Alzheimer’s disease and connectomics, a rapidly growing area in computational neuroscience which allows to see the brain as a network. By investigating the relationships between brain connectome, dementia scoring and genetics, scientists might shed new lights into local or network-level diagnostic biomarkers that give further insights for therapy and prevention.

One of the publication’s authors is Alessandro Crimi, the Computer Vision (Brain and More Lab) Team Leader.

Original paper: Elsheikh, S. S., Chimusa, E. R., Mulder, N. J., Crimi, A., & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2021). Relating Global and Local Connectome Changes to Dementia and Targeted Gene Expression in Alzheimer’s Disease Front. Hum. Neurosci., 17 December 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.761424