Event

Feindel Virtual Brain and Mind Lecture Series: Brain Network Aging

Wednesday, February 17, 2021 16:00to17:00

Registration via Eventbrite

Livestreaming via Vimeo

Speaker: Dr. Gagan S. Wig, PhD

Associate Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Center for Vital Longevity , The University of Texas at Dallas

Bio: Dr. Wig earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia and his Ph.D. from Dartmouth College, followed by post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University and Washington University in St. Louis with the Human Connectome Project. Dr. Wig is currently an Associate Professor in the Center for Vital Longevity and School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, and in the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Wig’s research uses functional and structural imaging to understand the organization of human brain networks, specifically focused on understanding how brain networks change across the adult lifespan in both health and disease. Dr. Wig’s research has helped to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for analyzing patterns of brain connectivity and brain networks. This work is revealing how brain networks change across the adult lifespan, and how individual differences in these network changes relate to age-related cognitive decline. Dr. Wig’s recent research is examining how changes in an individual’s socio-economic environment and lifestyle interact with their brain network organization to predict their resilience and vulnerability to cognitive decline. Dr. Wig’s research is presently supported by grants from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) and the James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF).

Abstract: Influential models of human brain aging often directly or indirectly invoke concepts related to brain networks in order to explain the cognitive changes that accompany healthy and pathological aging. Network science has provided a formal language and analytic framework for describing patterns of brain connectivity, treating the brain as a large-scale network of interacting regions. I will highlight efforts from my lab that have incorporated tools from this rapidly growing science to further our understanding of how the brain’s network organization differences and changes across human adult lifespan. Changes in large-scale brain network organization are evident across adulthood, and can be effectively described with measures sensitive to the brain’s modular network architecture. Importantly, the changes in brain network organization are intimately linked to individual variability in both cognitive ability and also brain function. Finally, I will describe more recent efforts from my lab which are beginning to reveal the moderating role of an individual’s environment (defined by their socioeconomic status) on their trajectory of brain network aging during adulthood. Collectively, these observations are offering a new perspective towards understanding the underpinnings and vulnerabilities of age-related cognitive decline.


The Feindel Virtual Brain and Mind (VBM) Seminar Series will advance the vision of Dr. William Feindel (1918–2014), Former Director of the Neuro (1972–1984), to constantly bridge the clinical and research realms. The talks will highlight the latest advances and discoveries in neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroimaging.

Speakers will include scientists from across The Neuro, as well as colleagues and collaborators locally and from around the world. The series is intended to provide a virtual forum for scientists and trainees to continue to foster interdisciplinary exchanges on the mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of brain and cognitive disorders.

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The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) is a bilingual academic healthcare institution. We are a McGill research and teaching institute; delivering high-quality patient care, as part of the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. We are proud to be a Killam Institution, supported by the Killam Trusts.

 

 

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