Structural Scaffolds of Brain Dynamics

Brain activity never happens in a vacuum, it is shaped at every moment by the structure it runs on. The layout of long-range connections, the local density of different neurotransmitter receptors, and the architecture of the networks a signal can travel through all constrain what the brain is able to do. Two regions with identical inputs can behave quite differently simply because they are wired differently, or because their receptor landscapes differ.

In this research stream we ask how that underlying architecture governs the dynamics it carries. We map structural and functional networks from intracranial and scalp recordings, link regional differences in brain activity to the local distribution of receptors, and use computational models - from neural mass models to network-control frameworks - to make the relationship between structure and dynamics explicit. Where possible, we test these models against direct perturbations of the network, such as single-pulse electrical stimulation.

Understanding how structure scaffolds dynamics matters in the clinic as much as the lab: it helps explain why seizures spread the way they do, why some brain regions are more controllable than others, and how we might predict the effect of removing or stimulating a particular part of the network.