The (still) developing adolescent brain
Kirstie Whitaker
10.6084/m9.figshare.4087509.v1
https://figshare.com/articles/presentation/The_still_developing_adolescent_brain/4087509
<b>Abstract</b>: Adolescence is a period of human brain growth and the prolonged changes are in regions of the brain
particularly important for complex cognition. I will begin by orienting
the audience to some of the common neuroimaging methods used to study
the teenage brain, with a focus on what we can -
and can not - determine from these techniques. Specifically, magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) allows us to image non-invasively, and at
multiple time points from the same participants as they grow up, but the
resolution and biological specificity of the images are limited. I will
provide an overview of some key developmental studies that elucidate
the flexibility of the adolescent brain, and the impact of socioeconomic status on brain structure in adolescence. I will give a more detailed summary of my recent work within the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network (<a href="http://www.nspn.org.uk" target="_blank">www.nspn.org.uk</a>)
on cortical myelination between the ages of 14 and 24. We found,
consistently in two cohorts, that age-related changes in adolescence are
concentrated on the more densely connected hubs of the human structural
connectome. These hubs are located in associate cortex: the part of the
brain that integrates information from multiple
regions and generates complex action plans. I will conclude with a
demonstration of the power of integrating open data sets such as the
gene expression data from the Allen Brain Atlas with non-invasive imaging techniques to improve our understanding of the cellular mechanisms driving adolescent brain development.<br><div><br></div><div><b>References</b>: <br><p>Mackey,
A. P., Finn, A. S., Leonard, J. A., Jacoby-Senghor, D. S., West, M. R.,
Gabrieli, C. F. O., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2015). Neuroanatomical
correlates of the income-achievement gap. <i>Psychological Science</i>, <i>26</i>(6), 925–33. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615572233" target="_blank">http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615572233</a></p><p>Mills, K. L.*, Goddings, A.-L.*,
Clasen, L. S., Giedd, J. N., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2014). The
developmental mismatch in structural brain maturation during
adolescence. <i>Developmental Neuroscience</i>, <i>36</i>(3–4), 147–60. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1159/000362328" target="_blank">http://doi.org/10.1159/000362328</a></p><p>Vértes,
P. E., & Bullmore, E. T. (2015). Annual Research Review: Growth
connectomics - the organization and reorganization of brain networks during normal and abnormal development. <i>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</i>, <i>56</i>(3), 299–320. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12365" target="_blank">http://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12365</a></p><p>Whitaker,
K. J.*, Vértes, P. E.*, Romero-Garcia, R., Váša, F., Moutoussis, M.,
Prabhu, G., … Bullmore, E. T. (2016). Adolescence is associated with
genomically patterned consolidation of the hubs of the human brain connectome. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America</i>, <i>113</i>(32), 9105–10. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601745113" target="_blank">http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601745113</a></p><br></div><b>Bio</b>: Dr Kirstie Whitaker is a postdoctoral researcher in the Brain
Mapping Unit of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of
Cambridge. She is a 2016/17 Mozilla Fellow for Science and a passionate
advocate for reproducible neuroimaging research. Dr Whitaker received
her PhD in Neuroscience in 2012 from the University of California at
Berkeley, funded by a Fulbright scholarship. She is a member of the
Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network, a Wellcome Trust funded
collaboration between the University of Cambridge and University College
London. Her work uses graph theory to study structural brain
networks and seeks to explain why so many mental health disorders
emerge during adolescence. All her analysis code is openly available at <a href="http://www.GitHub.com/KirstieJane" target="_blank">www.GitHub.com/KirstieJane</a>. She is the founder and lead developer of the STEMM Role Models project (<a href="http://www.stemmrolemodels.com" target="_blank">www.stemmrolemodels.com</a>)
that seeks to ensure conference organisers are able to invite the most
exciting and diverse speakers to their event. Her personal website is <a href="http://www.kirstiewhitaker.com" target="_blank">www.kirstiewhitaker.com</a> and she tweets @kirstie_j.<br>
2016-10-27 06:25:36
adolescent
development
brain
MRI
genes
transcriptome
SES
achievement gap
cortical thickness
OA Week 2016
Neuroscience
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Educational Psychology
Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology)