We develop a new TMS targeting algorithm and test it in an open label trial in a treatment-resistant depression population with high comorbidities. Preprints by @rubykong92.bsky.social Phern-Chern Tor
1. doi.org/10.1101/2025...
2. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Our new approach ...
BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex, Nature Neuroscience
fMRI signals “up,” but neural metabolism might be going “down.”
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
9️⃣ Sensitivity analysis
• Cross-dataset replication: HCP and MSC showed highly similar individualized topographies and FOCA matrices.
• GSR stability: FOCA was consistent with/without GSR in adults and neonates.
• Scan duration: Matching adult scans to neonatal length had minimal impact.(12/12)
8️⃣ FOCA vs. conventional FC
FOCA provides a much more robust view of negative coupling.
It is far more stable to GSR, captures greater inter-individual variability, shows stronger neonate–adult developmental effects, and predicts brain age markedly better than conventional FC.(11/12)
7️⃣ Neonatal functional topography matters
The spatial alignment of functional topography encodes brain development at birth and predicts neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 months.(10/12)
6️⃣ Why neonatal organization looks “adult-inverted”
Negative topographies show the largest developmental shifts: DAN’s strongest negative couplings move from motor cortex (neonates) to TPJ/precuneus (adults), while positive patterns stay stable. The visual network shows similar changes.(9/12)
5️⃣ Neonatal organization is "adult-inverted"
Higher-order networks show strong positive coupling, and the visual system couples positively with the DMN rather than with somatomotor regions—the reverse of the adult patterns. (8/12)
4️⃣ Hierarchical organization
FOCA revealed a clear architecture:
• Primary systems → mainly positive coupling
• Higher-order systems → mainly negative coupling
These patterns are strongly predicted by aerobic glycolysis. (7/12)
3️⃣ FOCA matrix
We quantified these relations via spatial correlations between individualized network topographies(defined as FOCA).
The resulting FOCA matrix showed high cross-subject consistency and strong within-subject stability. (6/12)
2️⃣ Positive vs. negative topographic pairs
Visual inspection revealed widespread coupling patterns:
• Positive (convergent): FP ↔ DAN
• Negative (divergent): Default-Anterolateral ↔ CO/Action-mode (5/12)
1️⃣ Individualized spatial topography
We generated whole-brain spatial topographies for 20 functional networks—including the recently proposed action-mode and somato-cognitive-action networks.(4/12)
To answer these, we introduce Functional Topography Covariance Analysis (FOCA), leveraging MSC dense-sampling, HCP adults, and dHCP neonates to map individualized network topographic interactions and their developmental origins.(3/12)
1️⃣ How is this Yin–Yang interaction organized in the brain?
2️⃣ Do newborns follow the same rules as adults?
3️⃣ From birth to adulthood, which force dominates?
4️⃣ And can negative connectivity be measured reliably, beyond global-signal artifacts? (2/12)
In Eastern philosophy, Yin-Yang describes how opposite forces interact.
Interestingly, human brain networks shows a similar balance—Yin (negative coupling) and Yang (positive coupling), such as DMN vs. Action-mode network.
But many questions remain👇(1/12)
🚨 New preprint out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We introduce a framework that maps convergent (positive) and divergent (negative) spatial topographies of individualized brain networks—and reveals how these network interactions invert in newborns and reorganize across development.
Thread 🧵 ⬇️
5️⃣ Neonatal organization is "adult-inverted"
Higher-order networks show strong positive coupling, and the visual system couples positively with the DMN rather than with somatomotor regions—the reverse of the adult patterns. (8/12)
3️⃣ FOCA matrix
We quantified these relations via spatial correlations between individualized network topographies(defined as FOCA).
The resulting FOCA matrix showed high cross-subject consistency and strong within-subject stability. (6/12)
1️⃣ Individualized spatial topography
We generated whole-brain spatial topographies for 20 functional networks—including the recently proposed action-mode and somato-cognitive-action networks.(4/12)
🚨 New Preprint 🚨
Targeting intracranial electrical stimulation (ES) to network regions defined within individuals causes network-level effects
By Cyr et al.
***
Q: Can we use individualized network maps from precision fMRI to modulate a targeted network via intracranial ES?
A: Yes!
🧵:
I still get chills
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
1/11 Excited to share our @Naturestudy led by @leonooi.bsky.social @csabaorban.bsky.social @shaoshiz.bsky.social
AI performance is known to scale with logarithm of sample size (Kaplan 2020), but in many domains, sample size can be # participants or # measurements...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
We have argued that the brain’s Action Mode Network controls functions required for goal-directed behavior. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Now, in new work, we show that AMN contains distinct subnetworks for making decisions, implementing actions, and processing feedback. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
How does the human brain coordinate hierarchical cortical development? Our work in Nature Neuroscience identifies a role for thalamocortical structural connectivity in the expression of hierarchical periods of cortical plasticity & environmental receptivity in youth 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Alert! ... for the child development world!
@fluxsociety.bsky.social @fitngin.bsky.social
The Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study has released its first data wave - it’s massive.
Check here:
docs.hbcdstudy.org
and here:
nbdc-datahub.org
Here’s why it matters 🧠🍼
Alert!!!!
“An Action Networks Model for Pain”
We propose a new model for chronic pain — and highlight two functionally connected cortical networks that could revolutionize how we treat it.
👉 thread below 🧵
osf.io/preprints/ps...
When I first started working with resting state fMRI as a postdoc, there was a lot of skepticism about what we could learn from it. 20 years later, it's hard to imagine where the field of neuroscience would be without it. Here's a summary 🧠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👏
White matter microstructure and macrostructure brain charts across the human lifespan | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
It turns out the brain🧠is silently🤫working when your arm is in a cast. 🩼 🚧
Plastic changes occur, and revert again when the cast is removed … not just in cortex.
Probably the most insightful and most important paper on physiomarkers of subthalamic DBS in a long while. Bravo @julianneumann.bsky.social @tsbinns.com and team!!
Out at @natcomms.nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It's shocking how little is known about the brainstem red nucleus. In our new paper “The human brainstem’s red nucleus was upgraded to support goal-directed action” out now in @naturecomms.bsky.social we show that current thinking on the red nucleus is in need of a serious upgrade. rdcu.be/ehbOy
