Penn Researchers Help Build Landmark Brain Charts Across the Human Lifespan
Nature study combines more than 120,000 MRI scans to create standardized reference charts of brain development and aging from before birth through age 100.
An international research team with significant participation from the University of Pennsylvania has created the first comprehensive reference charts for human brain development and aging, providing a framework for measuring changes in brain structure across nearly the entire human lifespan.
Published in Nature, the study assembled 123,984 MRI scans from 101,457 individuals, spanning from approximately 115 days after conception through 100 years of age. The researchers developed standardized measures that allow brain structure to be compared with typical developmental and aging trajectories—an approach analogous to the height and weight growth charts routinely used in pediatric medicine.
Penn researchers contributing to the study include Jakob Seidlitz, PhD; Raquel E. Gur, MD, PhD; Ruben C. Gur, PhD; Theodore D. Satterthwaite, MD; and Aaron F. Alexander-Bloch, MD, PhD, among others, with affiliations spanning Penn Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Lifespan Brain Institute.
The brain charts revealed previously unreported milestones in neurodevelopment and demonstrated that standardized centile scores can help identify patterns of atypical brain structure across neurological and psychiatric conditions.
Unlike conventional studies that typically examine a specific age group or clinical population, the project combined data from more than 100 studies worldwide. The scale of the collaboration allowed researchers to construct reference trajectories that would have been impossible for any individual institution to generate independently.
Building Global Research Infrastructure
The brain charts demonstrate how large-scale international collaboration and data sharing can transform research infrastructure. By bringing together imaging data collected across institutions, countries, age groups, and research studies, the team created an open resource that researchers can continue to refine and apply to future investigations of brain development, aging, and disease.
Through support for interdisciplinary research, open science, and global collaboration, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) helps foster the research environments and partnerships that allow Penn investigators to contribute to ambitious projects with broad scientific and societal impact.
Read the study in Nature:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04554-y