Kirstie Whitaker
A5061727541- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications
- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Mental Health Research Topics
- Scientific Computing and Data Management
- Research Data Management Practices
- Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging
- Epilepsy research and treatment
- Congenital heart defects research
- EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Fetal and Pediatric Neurological Disorders
- Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research
- Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Data Analysis with R
- Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
- Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Biomedical and Engineering Education
The Alan Turing Institute
2017-2025
University of Cambridge
2015-2024
Turing Institute
2017-2024
Addenbrooke's Hospital
2024
British Library
2017-2022
Neuroscience Institute
2011-2021
Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod
2021
University of Warwick
2019
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg
2019
Brain Mapping Foundation
2018
Across scientific disciplines, there is a rapidly growing recognition of the need for more statistically robust, transparent approaches to data visualization. Complementary this, many scientists have called plotting tools that accurately and transparently convey key aspects statistical effects raw with minimal distortion. Previously common approaches, such as conditional mean or median barplots together error-bars been criticized distorting effect size, hiding underlying patterns in data,...
Significance Adolescence is a period of human brain growth and high incidence mental health disorders. Here, we show consistently in two MRI cohorts that changes adolescence were concentrated on the more densely connected hubs connectome (i.e., association cortical regions mediated efficient connectivity throughout structural network). Hubs less myelinated at 14 y but had faster rates myelination shrinkage 14- to 24-y period. This topologically focused process consolidation was associated...
<ns3:p>Across scientific disciplines, there is a rapidly growing recognition of the need for more statistically robust, transparent approaches to data visualization. Complementary this, many scientists have called plotting tools that accurately and transparently convey key aspects statistical effects raw with minimal distortion. Previously common approaches, such as conditional mean or median barplots together error-bars been criticized distorting effect size, hiding underlying patterns in...
Schizophrenia has been conceived as a disorder of brain connectivity, but it is unclear how this network phenotype related to the underlying genetics. We used morphometric similarity analysis MRI data marker interareal cortical connectivity in three prior case-control studies psychosis: total, n = 185 cases and 227 controls. Psychosis was associated with globally reduced all studies. There also replicable pattern differences regional similarity, which significantly patients frontal temporal...
Efforts to make research results open and reproducible are increasingly reflected by journal policies encouraging or mandating authors provide data availability statements. As a consequence of this, there has been strong uptake statements in recent literature. Nevertheless, it is still unclear what proportion these actually contain well-formed links data, for example via URL permanent identifier, if an added value providing such links. We consider 531, 889 articles published PLOS BMC,...
How predictable are life trajectories? We investigated this question with a scientific mass collaboration using the common task method; 160 teams built predictive models for six outcomes data from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, high-quality birth cohort study. Despite rich dataset applying machine-learning methods optimized prediction, best predictions were not very accurate only slightly better than those simple benchmark model. Within each outcome, prediction error was...
Motivated by prior data on local cortical shrinkage and intracortical myelination, we predicted age-related changes in topological organization of structural networks during adolescence. We estimated correlation from magnetic resonance imaging measures thickness at 308 regions a sample N = 297 healthy participants, aged 14-24 years. used novel sliding-window analysis to measure network attributes globally, locally the context several community partitions network. found that strength...
Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain networks have a complex topology comprising integrative components, e.g. long-distance inter-modular edges, that are theoretically associated with higher biological cost. Here, we estimated intra-modular degree, degree and connection distance for each of 285 cortical nodes in multi-echo fMRI data from 38 healthy adults. We used the multivariate technique partial least squares (PLS) to reduce dimensionality relationships between these...
Complex network topology is characteristic of many biological systems, including anatomical and functional brain networks (connectomes). Here, we first constructed a structural covariance from MRI measures cortical thickness on 296 healthy volunteers, aged 14-24 years. Next, designed new algorithm for matching sample locations the Allen Brain Atlas to nodes SCN. Subsequently used this define, transcriptomic by estimating gene co-expression between pairs regions. Finally, explored hypothesis...
We studied an accelerated longitudinal cohort of adolescents and young adults (n = 234, two time points) to investigate dynamic reconfigurations in myeloarchitecture. Intracortical profiles were generated using magnetization transfer (MT) data, a myelin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging contrast. Mixed-effect models depth specific intracortical demonstrated separate processes i) overall increases MT, ii) flattening the MT profile related enhanced signal mid-to-deeper layers, especially...
The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a community-driven specification for organizing neuroscience data and metadata with the aim to make datasets more transparent, reusable, reproducible. Intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) offer unique combination of high spatial temporal resolution measurements living human brain. To improve internal (re)use external sharing these data, we present storing iEEG data: iEEG-BIDS.
Adolescent changes in human brain function are not entirely understood. Here, we used multiecho functional MRI (fMRI) to measure developmental change connectivity (FC) of resting-state oscillations between pairs 330 cortical regions and 16 subcortical 298 healthy adolescents scanned 520 times. Participants were aged 14 26 y on 1 3 occasions at least 6 mo apart. We found 2 distinct modes age-related FC: “conservative” “disruptive.” Conservative development was characteristic primary cortex,...
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques have made it possible to investigate white matter plasticity in humans. Changes DTI measures, principally increases fractional anisotropy (FA), been observed following training programs as diverse juggling, meditation, and working memory. Here, we sought test whether three months of reasoning could alter microstructure. We recruited participants (n = 23) who were enrolled a course prepare for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), that places strong...
Seminal human brain histology work has demonstrated developmental waves of myelination. Here, using a micro-structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) marker linked to myelin, we studied fine-grained age differences deduce growth, stability, and decline cortical myelination over the life-cycle. In 484 participants, aged 8-85 years, fitted smooth growth curves T1- T2-weighted ratio in each 360 regions from one seven cytoarchitectonic classes. From first derivatives these generally inverted-U...
The goal of this fMRI study was to examine how well developmental improvements in reasoning ability can be explained by changes functional connectivity between specific nodes prefrontal and parietal cortices. To end, we examined within the lateral fronto-parietal network (LFPN) its relation 132 children adolescents aged 6–18 years, 56 whom were scanned twice over course 1.5 years. Developmental strength connections LFPN most prominent late childhood early adolescence. Reasoning related left...
This study was supported by the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network, a strategic award from Wellcome Trust to University of Cambridge and College London (095844/Z/11/Z). Additional support provided National Institute for Health (NIHR) Research Biomedical Centre, NIHR Collaboration Leadership Applied & Care East England, Medical Council (MRC)/Wellcome Behavioural Clinical Institute.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a popular method for in vivo neuroimaging.Modern fMRI sequences are often weighted towards the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal, which closely linked to neuronal activity (Logothetis, 2002).This weighting achieved by tuning several parameters increase BOLD-weighted signal contrast.One such parameter "TE," or echo time.TE amount of time elapsed between when protons excited (the MRI source) and measured.Although total measured magnitude...
Genetic risk is thought to drive clinical variation on a spectrum of schizophrenia-like traits, but the underlying changes in brain structure that mechanistically link genomic schizotypal experience and behavior are unclear.
Adolescence is a critical time for the continued maturation of brain networks. Here, we assessed structural connectome development in large longitudinal sample ranging from childhood to young adulthood. By projecting high-dimensional connectomes into compact manifold spaces, identified marked expansion connectomes, with strongest effects transmodal regions during adolescence. Findings reflected increased within-module connectivity together segregation, indicating increasing differentiation...
Decision-making is a cognitive process of central importance for the quality our lives. Here, we ask whether common factor underpins diverse decision-making abilities. We obtained 32 measures from 830 young people and identified that call "decision acuity," which was distinct IQ reflected generic ability. Decision acuity decreased in those with aberrant thinking low general social functioning. Crucially, decision had dissociable brain signatures, terms their associated neural networks...
Drug-resistant focal epilepsy is often caused by cortical dysplasias (FCDs). The distribution of these lesions across the cerebral cortex and impact lesion location on clinical presentation surgical outcome are largely unknown. We created a neuroimaging cohort patients with individually mapped FCDs to determine factors associated predictors postsurgical outcome.
Abstract One outstanding challenge for machine learning in diagnostic biomedical imaging is algorithm interpretability. A key application the identification of subtle epileptogenic focal cortical dysplasias (FCDs) from structural MRI. FCDs are difficult to visualize on MRI but often amenable surgical resection. We aimed develop an open-source, interpretable, surface-based machine-learning automatically identify heterogeneous data epilepsy surgery centres worldwide. The Multi-centre Epilepsy...