Title: Quantifying structural connectivity.
Session: Educational Course
Speaker: Robert Smith
Estimation of the macroscopic structural connectome of the brain can be performed using diffusion MRI tractography. While the fundamental principles of this technology are relatively simple, there exists a wide array of technical limitations of which any invested researcher must be aware, and state-of-the-art developments for which uptake is strongly advocated.This session will present a breakdown of the underlying requirements for the robust and quantitative reconstruction of brain structural connectomes. While attendees’ attention will be drawn to relevant publicly available algorithms, focus here is placed on understanding of the complexities and challenges of structural connectome construction in their most general form, giving attendees the ability to critically assess the field and accurately contextualise various software tools within the overall reconstruction and quantification framework.Construction of brain networks using diffusion MRI tractography depends on a very large number of algorithmic processing steps, for little of which there is a consensus among experts in the field. This session aims to equip attendees with the requisite understanding to critically assess the various software methods utilised in the field and make informed decisions regarding their own experimental paradigms.
