Sponsored by the UCLA Brain Mapping Center Faculty
The focus of these talks is on advancing the use of brain mapping methods in neuroscience with an emphasis on contemporary issues of neuroplasticity, neurodevelopment, and biomarker development in neuropsychiatric disease.
Hosted By: Shantanu Joshi, PhD, Neurology, UCLA
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Meaghan Perdue, PhD Postdoctoral Associate, Developmental Neuroimaging Lab University of Calgary |
Metabolites play important roles in brain development, but they have been understudied in children relative to brain function and structure. Moreover, findings linking altered metabolite levels to neurological conditions or cognitive traits can be difficult to interpret due to the multiple functions of any given metabolite. In this talk, I will present recent work in which I characterize patterns of development of 5 key metabolites measured with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in a longitudinal study of children ages 2-11 years old. I will discuss ongoing work in which I apply multimodal imaging to examine relationships between metabolites and white matter tissue structure. I aim to identify plausible mechanisms of change and links to cognitive traits, such as reading ability.