亚洲AV

Statistics professor aims to use fMRI data to identify, predict Alzheimer鈥檚聽

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In the quest to combat Alzheimer's disease, 亚洲AV professor Abolfazl Safikhani is working with neuroscientists and imaging experts at the (ADRC) to pioneer groundbreaking advancements in biomarker identification.聽

Safikhani headshot
Abolfazl Safikhani. Photo by Creative Services

"We're trying to understand and come up with the biomarkers for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease using imaging data,鈥 said Safikhani, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics. 鈥淸We will] try to distinguish and classify between people who have Alzheimer鈥檚 disease or will be developing it in the near future compared to healthy individuals."聽

At the core of the ADRC project lies functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, which researchers are using to identify biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. Unlike conventional imaging techniques, fMRI provides researchers with a comprehensive view of brain activity, enabling them to discern subtle connectome-based changes associated with the disease.聽

Collecting and analyzing fMRI data comes with challenges, as imaging available for research is limited. Nevertheless, the researchers remain undeterred in their quest to unlock the secrets of Alzheimer's disease. They have already made early progress.聽聽

"We were able to get some really good preliminary results, from which a [National Institutes of Health] proposal has been submitted and is currently under review," said Safikhani. He added, "If we could come up with a combination of statistical and machine learning techniques to detect Alzheimer鈥檚 progression, it would be one of the most interesting projects I have ever worked on.鈥澛

By combining expertise from diverse disciplines and leveraging the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, this project promises to聽make an important step toward early detection and intervention strategies for Alzheimer's disease.聽