Five years ago we formed the brain
network recovery group – Brain NRG.This
group of 17 scientists spanned the domains of computational, cognitive and
clinical neuroscience, but shared a focus on understanding brain network
dynamics and how it relates to recovery of function.Our approach moves away from the
investigation of isolated regional responses and considers the function of each
region in terms of its dynamic interactions with other brain regions.This allows us to (1) re-classify lesions in
terms of the network of nodes (regions) and connections (axons, white matter
tracts) that have been damaged and to (2) investigate the mechanisms that
preserve function by understanding how regional damage affects the function of
other parts of the network.In this
context, brain repair (recovery of function) depends on the restoration and
rebalancing of activity in the remaining nodes in the network.
Predicting and treating the
consequences of brain damage has been notoriously difficult. This is because
the relationship between the nature of the lesion and the functional deficit is
highly variable across patients who have been grouped according to some
classification metric (e.g. type of brain damage); and within individual
patients who recover or deteriorate over time. A formalized explanation of such
variability calls for (1) a re-evaluation of our classification metrics, (2) a
better understanding of the mechanisms that preserve and/or restore function and
(3) performance measures that are sensitive to subtle changes that occur over
time.
Over the course of the prior five-year
collaboration, we were able to establish some key insights into brain dynamics
and their modification in brain damage and degeneration, and to lay a solid
foundation for network approaches to brain recovery. The next step for our
group is to consolidate and concentrate our efforts by directing them towards
two major goals:
1) To build the Virtual Brain: a large-scale
model of the human brain’s anatomy and physiology that embodies major
principles of brain network function;
2) To use the Virtual Brain to
integrate different sources of data from individual patients into
classification metrics that will allow us to better understand, predict, and
guide recovery of function.
To achieve the research mandate/vision will
require the integration of research efforts in clinical, cognitive and
computational neuroscience.The creation
of the Virtual Brain provides a powerful computational environment or
laboratory wherein modelers and clinicians will be able to manipulate network
properties to understand the reorganization of brain dynamics and restoration
of function.
