Abstract

Speaker: Dr. Nitin Williams, Department of Neuroscience & Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland

Title: Brain Digital Twins for Neurological Disorders

Abstract: Each of us knows someone whose life has been devastated by a neurological disorder such as Stroke, Epilepsy, or Alzheimer’s Disease. These disorders could be diagnosed earlier or treated more effectively by combining brain digital twins, i.e., neurophysiology-based computational models, with brain imaging modalities like Electroencephalography (EEG) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG). However, current brain digital twins are based on incomplete neurophysiological knowledge, rendering them overly simplified and limiting their clinical utility. In my talk, I will describe pioneering methodological work by my group, on building improved brain digital twins by combining advanced machine learning methods with MEG data. I will then briefly outline my future research programme based on recursively applying this framework to build increasingly representative brain digital twins, which I will deploy in collaboration with neurologists to improve the clinical management of specific neurological disorders. In the long-term, these brain digital twins would significantly improve patient outcomes and reduce patient suffering, raising their ability to lead healthy, productive lives.

Keywords: Brain Digital Twins; Neurological disorders; Personalised medicine; Early diagnosis; Stroke; Epilepsy; Alzheimer’s Disease.

Bio: Dr. Nitin Williams is based in Dept. of Neuroscience & Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland, where his research encompasses Neuroinformatics, Computational Neuroscience and Biomedical Signal Processing. He has made many contributions to these fields (h-index=17, citations=2014), in recognition of which he was awarded the title of Adjunct Professor by Dept. of Computer Science, Helsinki University, Finland. He has raised more than €100,000 in independent research funding, and has further earned more than €100,000 through data science consultancy for medical technology companies in Finland. He serves on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, and has research experience from Aalto University and Helsinki University in Finland, and Cambridge University and Reading University in UK.

Venue: MRC CBU West Wing Seminar Room and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385113580?pwd=RmxIUmphQW9Ud1JBby9nTDQzR0NRdz09 (Meeting ID: 823 8511 3580; Passcode: 299077)