{"688177":{"#nid":"688177","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Ph.D. Proposal Oral Exam - Elaheh Zendehrouh","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle:\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMapping the Multimodal Continuum of Brain Risk Across Disorders\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr.\u0026nbsp;Calhoun, Advisor\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. AlRegib, Chair\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Anderson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThe objective of the proposed research is to develop a novel data-driven framework for quantifying individualized Brain Risk Scores (BRS) for brain disorders. Brain disorders exist along a continuum of neural vulnerability, shaped by ongoing disruptions in brain structural integrity and functional coordination. Rather than fitting into distinct categories of health and disease, they represent gradual, system-wide reorganizations of the brain. Functional MRI reveals abnormal interactions among large-scale networks, while structural MRI detects gray-matter atrophy and morphological co-variation. However, each modality offers only a partial view. A comprehensive understanding of brain health, therefore, requires a multimodal approach that combines functional connectivity (both static and dynamic) estimated from resting-state fMRI with structural co-modulation derived from sMRI. In this project, the Brain Risk Score (BRS) will be defined as the difference between an individual\u2019s similarity to control versus patient templates (BRS = R_CN \u2212 R_Patient). Higher values indicate a healthier organization; lower or negative values reflect disease-like patterns. Mapping these scores will reveal a continuous risk spectrum and detect subclinical vulnerability. The multimodal BRS (mBRS) will extend this by integrating static and dynamic connectivity with gray-matter co-modulation. The Dynamic Multi-Connectivity (dMC) framework will combine dynamic FNC, dynamic ALFF, and windowed spectra within joint ICA to capture how amplitude, connectivity, and frequency features change together over time. An exploratory EC-ICA module will test whether adding directed causal priors from GIMME improves component stability and interpretability. This project builds on large-scale prior work involving more than 37,000 participants, which demonstrated that mBRS identifies early mild cognitive impairment and predicts Alzheimer\u2019s disease conversion. It also extends a state-guided ICA framework that uncovered reproducible temporal biomarkers of Alzheimer\u2019s pathology. Building on these foundations, the proposed research will construct a comprehensive multimodal continuum model capable of forecasting individualized risk trajectories across disorders. Ultimately, this integrative framework will establish a quantitative map of the brain\u2019s structural\u2013functional\u2013dynamic continuum, enabling early detection, longitudinal monitoring, and precision modeling of neural vulnerability across the lifespan.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Mapping the Multimodal Continuum of Brain Risk Across Disorders"}],"uid":"28475","created_gmt":"2026-02-10 22:07:46","changed_gmt":"2026-02-10 22:09:11","author":"Daniela Staiculescu","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-02-12T14:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2026-02-12T16:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-02-12T16:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-02-12 19:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-02-12 21:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-02-12 21:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Online","extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/georgiatech.webex.com\/meet\/ezendehrouh3","title":"Webex Link"}],"groups":[{"id":"434371","name":"ECE Ph.D. Proposal Oral Exams"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"},{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}