A University of Pennsylvania bioengineering professor has won a MacArthur Fellowship genius grant to get a better read of how the brain makes connections. By studying connectivity changes in the brain and enlisting physics and math, Danielle Bassett and her team were able to develop insights on the ability (and inability) of the brain to learn. The brain research by Bassett, who is the Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation at the university, could have ramifications for disease diagnostics and therapeutics and recovery from brain injuries.
Bassett tapped her mathematical know-how using complex networks to analyze interactions with neurons in different parts of the brain as someone learns something new or is trying to recall a face to understand how those connections are carried out by functions in the brain.
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As part of the grant award, Bassett will receive a stipend of $625,000, paid out over five years with no stipulations attached to it. She is one of 21 to receive the honor.
Here’s a summary of her research from the announcement:
“Using brain imaging data of people learning a motor task over three distinct time periods, Bassett and colleagues found that a person’s ability to learn can be predicted based on the brain’s flexibility, or the ability of different areas of the brain to connect in different combinations, and precision in identifying existing brain functions that can be used to accomplish the new behavior.”
The announcement comes at a time when neuroscience is an increasingly significant area of research both for big pharma companies such as Johnson & Johnson which are planting seeds for the development of a broader range of psychiatric drugs. Research in deep brain stimulation is also generating a lot of interest not only as a treatment for dystonia, but also for Parkinson’s disease and other conditions.
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