Analyzing Alzheimer's Biomarkers Through Dynamic Brain Topology (2024-2025)
This project team set out to investigate how brain networks change from normal cognition through mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. Using a novel spatiotemporal topological approach, the team aimed to capture the collective dynamics of brain networks over time. By combining clinical data modeling with advanced analysis of MRI-based connectivity, the team sought to uncover early markers of disease progression and improve understanding of Alzheimer’s pathological shifts.
On the clinical side, the team integrated and cleaned large datasets from multiple OASIS-3 forms to model disease trajectories. They applied Markov models to estimate transition probabilities across diagnostic categories and used linear mixed effects models to evaluate longitudinal changes in cognition, while accounting for factors such as age, sex, education and genetic risk. These methods provided robust insights into both individual and population-level patterns of decline.
In parallel, the team applied topological data analysis to functional MRI scans, focusing on both static and dynamic connectivity. Their findings showed that dynamic brain connectivity patterns, which reveal how networks evolve over time, differed significantly across cognitive groups and between sexes. These results point to dynamic connectivity as a promising early biomarker for Alzheimer’s, offering a more sensitive measure than traditional approaches. Together, the clinical and topological findings highlight the potential for earlier detection and more personalized monitoring of the disease.
Timing
Summer 2024 – Spring 2025
Team Outputs
Analyzing Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Through Dynamic Brain Topology (Poster presentation at the Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 16, 2025)
Topological and geometric signatures of brain network dynamics in Alzheimer's disease. (Alzheimer's & Dementia : the Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 21(8), e70545.)
See related Data+ summer project, Analyzing Alzheimer’s Biomarkers through Dynamic Brain Topology (2024).
Image: Brain showing hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (plaques in blue), by Alvin Gogineni, Genentech, NIH Image Gallery, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0