Latest Lab News

Xihan Zhang et al.’s new paper out now in Nature Neuroscience: “The cell-type underpinnings of the human functional cortical connectome”

Xihan Zhang et al.’s new paper out now in Nature Neuroscience: “The cell-type underpinnings of the human functional cortical connectome” Read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01812-2 Xihan links functional macroscale organization in the human brain (connectivity networks and gradients) with biological microscale organization (cell-type distribution). Her work reveals that functional organization of human cortex is reflected in the spatial variability of different cell types. She examines associations between the spatial abundance of cell-types with functional gradients and networks across the cortical sheet. She shows functional networks have unique cell-type distribution fingerprints, and ML models can predict FC-network affiliation of post-mortem cortical tissue through these fingerprints alone.

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Ashlea Segal et al.’s new paper is out now in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: “Embracing variability in the search for biological mechanisms of psychiatric illness”

Ashlea Segal et al.’s new paper is out now in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: “Embracing variability in the search for biological mechanisms of psychiatric illness” Read it here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.09.010 Embracing variability is essential to uncover the biological mechanisms of psychiatric illness. This paper highlights four key issues that limit progress in the field and suggest ways to address them: (1)  Group means (based on current diagnostic definitions) are NOT representative of individuals —> Normative models offer a framework to characterise individual variability by providing personalised brain maps (2)Brain regions do NOT operate in isolation but as part of an interconnected network —> Network-based analytical approaches, such as lesion network mapping, provide insights into the broader network context (3) There is NO one-to-one mapping between a disorder and its pathophysiological mechanism —> Integrating information across spatial and temporal scales, in both biology and behaviour, allows for a more nuanced many-to-many explanation (4) Diagnostic categories are NOT the appropriate phenotypic resolution —> Deep precision phenotyping of symptomatology leads to a more granular understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms By addressing these issues, we can make significant strides in understanding psychiatric illnesses. Embracing variability and using advanced analytical approaches will pave the way for more personalised

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Sid Chopra et al.’s new paper is out now in Science Advances: “Generalizable and replicable brain-based predictions of cognitive functioning across common psychiatric illness”

New paper out now in Science Advances: “Generalizable and replicable brain-based predictions of cognitive functioning across common psychiatric illness” By Sidhant Chopra and Holmes Lab Read it here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn1862 This paper demonstrates using ‘meta-matching’ technique to build reliable, generalizable and interpretable models of cognitive functioning without 1000s of subjects/patients. The key takeaway is You don’t need your own big data to make robust & generalizable brain-based behavioural predictions, especially for cognition. Methods like meta-matching (https://nature.com/articles/s41593-022-01059-9) are effective across diverse small clinical samples.

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Sid Chopra et al.’s new paper is out now in New paper out in Biological Psychiatry: “Brainwide Anatomical Connectivity and Prediction of Longitudinal Outcomes in Antipsychotic-Naïve First-Episode Psychosis”

New paper out now in Biological Psychiatry “Brainwide Anatomical Connectivity and Prediction of Longitudinal Outcomes in Antipsychotic-Naïve First-Episode Psychosis” by Sidhant Chopra, Holmes Lab and collaborators at Monash University and Turner Institute. This new work shows widespread lower structural brain connectivity in people with first-episode psychosis (pre-antipsychotics). Alterations affect all large-scale systems and can predict changes in functional outcomes up to 1 year after. Read it here: https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(24)01483-5/fulltext

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Jocelyn Ricard et al.’s new paper is out now in Nature Communications Biology! ““Dopamine D2/3 receptor densities may underlie the functional architecture of cocaine use.”

New paper: “Dopamine D2/3 receptor densities may underlie the functional architecture of cocaine use.” By Jocelyn Ricard and Holmes Lab Read it now in Nature Communications Biology: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06836-9 Here, we show that the spatial topography of dopamine receptor densities may underlie the patterns of functional connectivity in cocaine use disorder we can assess through fMRI.

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Dr Amber Howell joins Holmes Lab

We are so excited to welcome Dr Amber Howell to the lab as a new postdoctoral fellow! Amber researches how dynamic brain interactions arise from the structural architecture of the brain, spanning species and cortical/sub-cortical structures. Click here to view her published works: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NiFsGm8AAAAJ&hl=en. Welcome, Amber!

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Post-doc Winnie Orchard’s work featured in New Scientist Magazine!

Dr Winnie Orchard’s work on parenthood and age-related decline has been featured in a new article in the international science magazine New Scientist. The article is titled “Having more children protects parents’ brains from age-related decline” Congratulations, Winnie! We are so excited to see your important work being shared. Check out the article PDF here! Or at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2430557-having-more-children-protects-parents-brains-from-age-related-decline/

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Rowena Chin awarded her PhD!

Rowena Chin defended her dissertation and was awarded her PhD! We are so proud of you, Dr. Chin, and beyond excited to see what you do next. Check out Rowena’s work on her google scholar or twitter @ChinRowena Rowena does amazing work on aging and the brain. Some of her must-read papers include: Beyond cortex: The evolution of the human brain. (2023) R Chin, SWC Chang, AJ Holmes Psychological Review 130 (2), 285 Recognition of schizophrenia with regularized support vector machine and sequential region of interest selection using structural magnetic resonance imaging (2018) R Chin, AX You, F Meng, J Zhou, K Sim Scientific reports 8 (1), 13858

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Kaley Joss joins the lab as Lab Manager

Kaley Joss joined the Holmes Lab as the lab manager. Welcome, Kaley! Kaley completed her bachelor’s in economics at the University of Washington, where she studied network economics under Dr. Alan Griffiths. At the Holmes Lab her research interests include building network-based models to analyze and characterize the time-varying patterns of brain connectivity that underlie individual differences in behavior.

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Sid Chopra’s new paper out now in JAMAPsych: “Network-Based Spreading of Gray Matter Changes Across Different Stages of Psychosis”

September 20, 2023 Sid Chopra, post-doc at the Holmes Lab, has a new paper out now in JAMA Psychiatry! This paper analyzes network-based spreading of grey matter changes across multiple stages of psychosis. Check it out here: www.doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.3293 In this case-control study of 534 participants from 4 independent samples spanning different stages of psychotic illness, it was found that gray matter alterations were constrained by the underlying architecture of the brain’s axonal pathways, and the hippocampus was consistently identified as a putative source from which volume loss may spread to connected regions. The paper was co-authored by Holmes lab post-doc Ashlea Segal, and post-doc Winnie Orchard also worked on the paper. Congrats, Sid, Ashlea and Winnie!  

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Ashlea Segal joins Holmes Lab as a postdoc!

We are excited to share that @AshleaSegal has joined the Holmes Lab as a @WuTsaiYale postdoc! We are so delighted to have you join us, Ashlea! Ashlea is a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr Nenad Sestan (Neuroscience, Yale University) and Dr Avram Holmes (Psychiatry, Rutgers University). Ashlea’s work aims to explore the neurobiological variability and consistency across individuals with common psychiatric illnesses. Welcome, Ashlea!

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New article published in Nature Communications by Loïc Labache!

June 9th, 2023 Loïc Labache, Holmes Lab post-doc at Yale University, has just published a new paper in Nature Communications! This paper provides evidence that typical and atypical language lateralization is reflected throughout the functional architecture of the human brain. This work was published with Tian Ge (Massachusetts General Hospital), B. T. Thomas Yeo (National University of Singapore) and Avram Holmes (Yale University). Congratulations, Loïc! Check out the paper here: https://rdcu.be/dd8oG Follow Loïc and read more about his research here.  

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