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Bratislav Misic

@misicbata.bsky.social

730 followers 570 following 130 posts

Montreal Neurological Institute - McGill University https://netneurolab.github.io/

netneurolab.github.io

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · Aug 4

Integrating and interpreting brain maps | doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

Imaging and recording technologies make it possible to map multiple biological features of the brain. How can these features be conceptually integrated into a coherent understanding of brain structure and function? ⤵️

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Reposted by Bratislav Misic

Harry H Behjat @aitchbi.bsky.social · 1d

does brain connectivity drive spread of pathological proteins in Alzheimer’s disease?

✨ preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

if the question intrigues you, please read on 🧵⤵️

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Reposted by Bratislav Misic

Emmanuel A Stamatakis @estamatakis.bsky.social · 13d

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new Master's Programme in Brain Health and Disease within the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge.

Applications are now open!

@camneurodept.bsky.social

www.clinical-neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/education/ta...

Taught MPhil in Brain Health and Disease | Clinical Neurosciences

Our one-year Master’s programme in Brain Health and Disease: Clinical Neurosciences offers an exceptional opportunity for students to engage with the forefront of clinical neuroscience through a dynam...

www.clinical-neuroscience.cam.ac.uk

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Reposted by Bratislav Misic

Golia Shafiei @goliashf.bsky.social · 16d

Excited to share that our work introducing the Reproducible Brain Charts (RBC) data resource is now published in Neuron!! 🎉

📚 Read the paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lpaF3BtfH...
🧠 Explore the RBC dataset: reprobrainchart.github.io

Golia Shafiei @goliashf.bsky.social · Feb 27

(1/18) Now out on BioRxiv‼️ Reproducible Brain Charts: An open data resource for mapping brain development and its associations with mental health | doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Reproducible Brain Charts: An open data resource for mapping brain development and its associations with mental health

Major mental disorders are increasingly understood as disorders of brain development. Large and heterogeneous samples are required to define generalizable links between brain development and psychopat...

doi.org

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Reposted by Bratislav Misic

Alex Fornito @alexfornito.bsky.social · 19d

Interested in the mechanisms shaping the extraordinary complexity of the connectome?

Then check out our new preprint, lead by
Francis Normand with a stellar team, showing how geometry constrains connectome architecture:

biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Full thread here:
tinyurl.com/sfv3yf73

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Reposted by Bratislav Misic

Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

Neuromorphic hierarchical modular reservoirs | doi.org/10.1101/2025...

How does hierarchical modularity shape computational function? ⤵️

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

8️⃣ And if you want more, we also have a connectome-based reservoir computing toolbox (conn2res) and mini-review:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Connectome-based reservoir computing with the conn2res toolbox - Nature Communications

Brain connectivity patterns shape computational capacity of biological neural networks, however mapping empirically measured connectivity to artificial networks remains challenging. The authors presen...

www.nature.com

Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

7️⃣ Altogether, across multiple benchmarks, we show that hierarchical modularity endows networks with computationally advantageous properties, providing insight into the relationship between neural network structure and function.

Code: github.com/netneurolab/...

GitHub - netneurolab/milisav_hierarchical_modularity: Data and code supporting Milisav et al., 2025 "Neuromorphic hierarchical modular reservoirs"

Data and code supporting Milisav et al., 2025 "Neuromorphic hierarchical modular reservoirs" - netneurolab/milisav_hierarchical_modularity

github.com

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

6️⃣ So far, we considered considered synthetic graphs, but what about real brains?

We implement dMRI brain networks as reservoirs. Again, hierarchical modularity positively contributes to computational performance.

Amazingly, reservoir timescales correlate with empirical timescales derived from MEG.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

5️⃣ How well do these networks perform multiple tasks simultaneously? We assign memory tasks to half the modules, and non-linear transformation tasks to the other half.

Again, we find that higher-order hierarchical modular networks consistently outperform their lower-order counterparts.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

4️⃣ To uncover the topological underpinnings of these differences in dynamics, we consider the motif composition of the reservoir.

More complex motifs containing at least three edges are all enriched in higher-order hierarchical modular networks, supporting more complex computations.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

3️⃣ How does hierarchical modularity shape dynamics to improve memory? We compute timescales from nodal time series at criticality.

Higher-order hierarchical modular reservoirs show more variability in timescales, yielding a bigger pool of timescales and richer temporal expansion of input signals.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

2️⃣ We start by evaluating the reservoir’s ability to preserve representations of past stimuli with the widely used memory capacity task.

Higher-order hierarchical modular networks consistently perform best, particularly at criticality.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

1️⃣ We use stochastic block models to generate synthetic multi-level hierarchical modular networks.

We then implement them as reservoirs to evaluate their cognitive capacity.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 21d

Neuromorphic hierarchical modular reservoirs | doi.org/10.1101/2025...

How does hierarchical modularity shape computational function? ⤵️

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

Huge thanks to Sanjay Kalra and the CALSNIC team, J Hansen, @vincebaz.bsky.social @goliashf.bsky.social L Collins @dadarmahsa.bsky.social @alaindagher.bsky.social !!

code: github.com/netneurolab/...

GitHub - netneurolab/Farahani_ALS: Network spreading and local biological vulnerability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Network spreading and local biological vulnerability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - netneurolab/Farahani_ALS

github.com

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

8️⃣ Finally, we consider spinal- and bulbar-onset subtypes. Epicenters in spinal-onset are mainly in primary motor cortex and paracentral lobule. In bulbar-onset, epicenters are prominent in lower paracentral gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, aligning with the clinical presentation of the subtypes.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

7️⃣ If cortical epicenters reflect the spatial focus of ALS pathology, do they also correlate with the clinical manifestation? Indeed: epicenter maps are correlated with poor motor function, including abnormal index finger and foot tapping scores, daily physical function, and muscle tone.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

6️⃣ We next ask whether the network epicenters of ALS atrophy are enriched for specific biological processes, cellular components, and cell types.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

5️⃣ We next investigate whether spreading is more likely between regions that share biological features, including (1) gene expression, (2) neurotransmitter receptors, (3) laminar differentiation, (4) metabolism, and (5) hemodynamics.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

4️⃣ We apply two methods to back-reconstruct the spreading trajectory and infer the most likely cortical location of the epicenter: (1) a network-based node ranking method, and (2) a susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) dynamical model.

Epicenter rankings are consistent with ALS pathological staging.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

3️⃣ We next assess the extent to which the spatial patterning of atrophy is related to structural connectivity.

Regional atrophy is correlated with the mean atrophy of its structurally connected neighbours, consistent with the notion of network spread of pathology.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

2️⃣ We analyze the Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC) dataset. Atrophy is concentrated in pre-central gyrus, as well as bilateral corticospinal tracts, bilateral anterior thalamic radiation, and bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus bundles.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

1️⃣ Accounts of ALS revolve around two notions: network spreading of pathogenic proteins via synapses, and intrinsic local vulnerability of specific cells.

Both may be true: pathogenic spread via synaptic contacts is amplified by local vulnerability, guiding the network spread of atrophy.

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Bratislav Misic @misicbata.bsky.social · 22d

Network spreading and local biological vulnerability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
doi.org/10.1038/s420...

How do brain network structure and local biological features shape the spatial patterning of atrophy in ALS? @asafarahani.bsky.social investigates ⤵️

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