Connectome

“Accessible, witty . . . an important new researcher, philosopher and popularizer of brain science . . . on par with cosmology’s Brian Greene and the late Carl Sagan” (The Plain Dealer). One of the Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year and a Publishers Weekly “Top Ten in Science” Title Every person is unique, but science has struggled to pinpoint where, precisely, that uniqueness resides. Our genome may determine our eye color and even aspects of our character. But our friendships, failures, and passions also shape who we are. The question is: How? Sebastian Seung is at the forefront of a revolution in neuroscience. He believes that our identity lies not in our genes, but in the connections between our brain cells—our particular wiring. Seung and a dedicated group of researchers are leading the effort to map these connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It’s a monumental effort, but if they succeed, they will uncover the basis of personality, identity, intelligence, memory, and perhaps disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Connectome is a mind-bending adventure story offering a daring scientific and technological vision for understanding what makes us who we are, as individuals and as a species. “This is complicated stuff, and it is a testament to Dr. Seung’s remarkable clarity of exposition that the reader is swept along with his enthusiasm, as he moves from the basics of neuroscience out to the farthest regions of the hypothetical, sketching out a spectacularly illustrated giant map of the universe of man.” —TheNew York Times “An elegant primer on what’s known about how the brain is organized and how it grows, wires its neurons, perceives its environment, modifies or repairs itself, and stores information. Seung is a clear, lively writer who chooses vivid examples.” —TheWashington Post

The audacious effort to map the brain--and along with it mental afflictions, from autism to schizophrenia--by a rising star in neuroscience.

In this bold and groundbreaking book, renowned neuroscientist Sebastian Seung reveals the secrets of the human brain. Sebastian Seung is at the forefront of a revolution in neuroscience. He believes that our identity lies not in our genes, but in the connections between our brain cells - our own particular wiring, or 'connectomes'. Connectome tells the incredible story of how Seung and a dedicated group of researchers are mapping these connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. They hope to uncover the basis of personality, identity, intelligence and memory, and explain mental disorders such as autism, depression and schizophrenia. Seung also reveals how this new map of a human connectome might even enable us to 'upload' our brains into a computer, making us effectively immortal. Connectome is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are, both as individuals and as a species.

A pioneer in the field outlines new empirical and computational approaches to mapping the neural connections of the human brain. Crucial to understanding how the brain works is connectivity, and the centerpiece of brain connectivity is the connectome, a comprehensive description of how neurons and brain regions are connected. In this book, Olaf Sporns surveys current efforts to chart these connections—to map the human connectome. He argues that the nascent field of connectomics has already begun to influence the way many neuroscientists collect, analyze, and think about their data. Moreover, the idea of mapping the connections of the human brain in their entirety has captured the imaginations of researchers across several disciplines including human cognition, brain and mental disorders, and complex systems and networks. Discovering the Human Connectome offers the first comprehensive overview of current empirical and computational approaches in this rapidly developing field.

This book has brought together leading investigators who work in the new arena of brain connectomics. This includes ‘macro-connectome’ efforts to comprehensively chart long-distance pathways and functional networks; ‘micro-connectome’ efforts to identify every neuron, axon, dendrite, synapse, and glial process within restricted brain regions; and ‘meso-connectome’ efforts to systematically map both local and long-distance connections using anatomical tracers. This book highlights cutting-edge methods that can accelerate progress in elucidating static ‘hard-wired’ circuits of the brain as well as dynamic interactions that are vital for brain function. The power of connectomic approaches in characterizing abnormal circuits in the many brain disorders that afflict humankind is considered. Experts in computational neuroscience and network theory provide perspectives needed for synthesizing across different scales in space and time. Altogether, this book provides an integrated view of the challenges and opportunities in deciphering brain circuits in health and disease.

An up-to-date overview of the field of connectomics, introducing concepts and mechanisms underlying brain network change at different stages. The human brain undergoes massive changes during its development, from early childhood and the teenage years to adulthood and old age. Across a wide range of species, from C. elegans and fruit flies to mice, monkeys, and humans, information about brain connectivity (connectomes) at different stages is now becoming available. New approaches in network neuroscience can be used to analyze the topological, spatial, and dynamical organization of such connectomes. In Changing Connectomes, Marcus Kaiser provides an up-to-date overview of the field of connectomics and introduces concepts and mechanisms underlying brain network changes during evolution and development.

Connectomic Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) covers this highly efficacious treatment option for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, Essential Tremor and Dystonia. The book examines its impact on distributed brain networks that span across the human brain in parallel with modern-day neuroimaging concepts and the connectomics of the brain. It asks several questions, including which cortical areas should DBS electrodes be connected in order to generate the highest possible clinical improvement? Which connections should be avoided? Could these connectomic insights be used to better understand the mechanism of action of DBS? How can they be transferred to individual patients, and more. This book is suitable for neuroscientists, neurologists and functional surgeons studying DBS. It provides practical advice on processing strategies and theoretical background, highlighting and reviewing the current state-of-the-art in connectomic surgery. Written to provide a "hands-on" approach for neuroscience graduate students, as well as medical personnel from the fields of neurology and neurosurgery Includes preprocessing strategies (such as co-registration, normalization, lead localization, VTA estimation and fiber-tracking approaches) Presents references (key articles, books and protocols) for additional detailed study Provides data analysis boxes in each chapter to help with data interpretation

Connectome Analysis: Characterization, Methods, and Analysis is a comprehensive companion for the analysis of brain networks, or connectomes. The book provides sources of constituent structural and functional MRI signals, network construction and practices for analysis, cutting-edge methods that address the latest challenges in neuroscience, and the fundamentals of network theory in the context of giving practical methods for building connectomes for analysis. Emphasis is placed on quality control of the individual analysis steps. Subsequent chapters discuss networks in neuroscience in clinical and general populations, including how findings are related to underlying neurophysiology and neuropsychology. This book is aimed at students and early-career researchers in brain connectomics and neuroimaging who have a background in computer science, mathematics and physics, as well as more broadly to neuroscientists and psychologists who want to start incorporating connectomics into their research. Provides practical recommendations on how to construct, assess and analyze brain networks Gives an understanding of all the technical methods for connectome analysis Presents the basic network theoretical principles typically used in neuroscience Covers the latest tools and data repositories that are freely available for the reader to carry out connectomic analyses