Grant: Operating Grant

Different brain regions grow and degenerate in a coordinated pattern. We will map the differences in this pattern across individuals, across normal development, abnormal development and in neurodegenerative disease. Using large brain databases already in existence, we will relate these structural connectivity differences across individuals to differences in normal performance in memory, language and motor skills as they change over time and as they are degraded in Alzheimer's Disease. Finally, we will use animal models of brain plasticity during learning to investigate the microstructural basis of structural connectivity observed with MR imaging in human brain.