Michael Fox

Depression as a disease of white matter network disruption: Learning from Multiple Sclerosis Depression is a common and debilitating psychiatric disorder that is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. For nearly 40 years, scientists have attempted to localize depression in the b...

Excited to share that our new review, "Depression as a disease of white matter network disruption: Learning from Multiple Sclerosis," is out now in Biological Psychiatry! We propose MS as a powerful model for studying how white matter network changes contribute to depression.

What is the burden in the US of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other diseases? Spoiler alert: there are surges beyond the pure numbers and we need to raise awareness for the increases in both disability and burden. Parkinson disease has shown the largest growth in burden on society.
cutt.ly/xtyUtS0D

Mongay-Ochoa et al. review advanced methods for mapping brain connections and identify common topographical patterns of pathology spread across different neurological disorders, including MS, AD and PD. tinyurl.com/3sz8ayup

Pruckner et al. show that the structural effects of neurosurgery extend beyond the resected tissue into connected networks through transneuronal degeneration. They were able to reliably predict these changes from preoperative MRI. tinyurl.com/a6rxvbey

A horizontal graphic with a teal panel on the lefthand side reading “Discovery Research Grantee ’25; University of Minnesota Medical School; Research: Precision Functional Mapping-Guided Network Stimulation for Bipolar Depression.” The right side of the graphic features headshots and titles of the research team: Lead Principal Investigator Ziad Nahas, MD, MSCR; and Co-Principal Investigators Damien Fair, PA-C, PhD; David Darrow, MD, MPH; Tay Netoff, PhD; and Alex Opitz, PhD. The BD² logo appears in the bottom lefthand corner.

🧪 Research Spotlight: Ziad Nahas, MD, MSCR, is studying how brain networks regulate mood in #BipolarDisorder & how instability drives shifts between depression & mania with PACE

👉 Goal: Test if targeting networks can improve mood & reveal mechanisms behind switches.

🔗 bit.ly/4gTbBwU

🧪 Research Spotlight: Michael Fox, MD, PhD (@foxmdphd.bsky.social) of Mass General Brigham (@mgbresearch.bsky.social) will map brain circuits driving symptoms in #BipolarDisorder

👉 Goal: Go beyond imaging correlations to identify the circuits causing symptoms.

🔗 bit.ly/4gTbBwU

A probabilistic histological atlas of the human brain for MRI segmentation - Nature NextBrain is an open source, probabilistic atlas of the entire human brain, assembled using artificial-intelligence-enabled registration and segmentation methods to reconstruct the multimodal serial h...

This is 🤯

All publicly available. Looks like an amazing new histology-based human probabilistic atlas and parcellation tool.

#neuroskyence #mri #brainmapping

A probabilistic histological atlas of the human brain for MRI segmentation | Nature share.google/5AD0iW7pxgb4...

Nice case report led by Ben Shofty's team adding prospective evidence for tract based reprogramming in deep brain stimulation for obsessive compulsive disorder out in @biologicalpsych.bsky.social:

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

🧵

BD² expands global effort to examine the key mechanisms of bipolar disorder Today, BD², or Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder, announced its third round of Discovery Research grants, totaling nearly $18 million – expanding a comprehensive global effor...

Can we identify brain circuit targets to treat symptoms of bipolar disorder? Thanks to funding from @bipolardiscoveries.org our team @braincircuits.bsky.social will be working hard to find out! Honored to be one of these excellent teams.
www.news-medical.net/news/2025102...

From a new @thelancet.com article today entitled "Health care in the USA: money has become the mission" www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

University of Rochester Neurobiologist Suzanne Haber Elected to National Academy of Medicine An internationally recognized scientist, her work has transformed our understanding of the brain networks that play a central role in many mental health disorders, including obsessive compulsive disor...

Suzanne Haber was just elected to the National Academy of Medicine! Her work on the organization of the cortex and basal ganglia has had a huge impact. Please take the opportunity to congratulate her the next time you see her. www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/u...

Fantastic talk by Joe Taylor on the „philosophers scan“ and how imaging can help neuromodulation at the Brainclinics TMS Masterclass in Nijmegen!

Could the Parkinson’s drug levodopa prime the brain to respond better to intensive rehabilitation following a stroke or injury? Enter the idea: Let’s give dopamine pills after a stroke? Spoiler alert: This new large, randomized trial published in JAMA revealed no added benefit in recovery.

Honored to moderate a panel on noninvasive mapping of human brain circuits at MGB Neuroscience Day.
Great insights from @anastasiayendiki.bsky.social
@mghmartinos.bsky.social, @fredschaper.bsky.social
@braincircuits.bsky.social, Alex Golby and Pravan Nanda @mgbneurosurgres.bsky.social.

Boom: The results of the ADAPT-PD personalized brain stimulation trial showed promise for treating Parkinson’s. First longer-term results for adaptive DBS in PD. Adaptive stimulation automatically adjusts in real time to a person’s brain signals. @parkinsondotorg.bsky.social

What is the update for skin biopsies to differentiate Parkinson's vs. MSA? Spoiler alert: under confocal microscope, skin biopsies look different in PD vs MSA. Donadio and colleagues describe in a new paper in Brain the uses of intraneural phosphorylated α-synuclein. @parkinsondotorg.bsky.social

In #DeepBrainStimulation

the two major developments across the last decade have been

1. Adaptive DBS and
2. Connectomic DBS

In a @natrevneurol.nature.com article with @julianneumann.bsky.social, we ask:

Could the two be united into a common framework?

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

A 🧵

Can connectomic DBS go beyond where to stimulate to inform who and when? Great discussion @dbsthinktank.bsky.social with @rolstonjohn.bsky.social @julianneumann.bsky.social suggest yes! @braincircuits.bsky.social

🧪 And House appropriators say: no cuts to NIH budget!

House subcommittee version just came out (link below). Holds NIH flat at $48 billion.

To be clear: this is far from over. But a good sign that science still matters across both sides of aisle.

YOUR VOICE MATTERS!!

A nasal spray reduced the risk of Covid infections in a double blind, placebo controlled randomized trial
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Crying spells triggered by thumb-index rubbing after thalamic stroke: a case report

Remarkable. Uncontrollable laughing or crying can happen *without* emotion ("pseudobulbar affect"). Here's a video of one individual whose crying is triggered by real or imagined rubbing of his finger & thumb. Intense response but not sadness. /1

static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10...

🚨 New preprint out! 🚨
“Translating the Transcriptome: A Connectomics Approach for Gene-Network Mapping and Clinical Application”
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 

🧵 A short thread:

Sending off 2 of our best research assistants ‬to graduate programs that are lucky to have them. Congrats Grace and Jessy and we look forward to your ongoing success! @braincircuits.bsky.social

News from ENIGMA-Epilepsy! 🧠

Our latest study links polygenic risk for TLE-HS to cortical thinning in kids—mirroring patterns in adult patients.

Early imaging-genetics insights could reveal interplay of epilepsy risk and phenotypes before symptoms emerge.

Read more 👉 doi.org/10.1093/brai...

🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Targeting intracranial electrical stimulation (ES) to network regions defined within individuals causes network-level effects

By Cyr et al.

***
Q: Can we use individualized network maps from precision fMRI to modulate a targeted network via intracranial ES?

A: Yes!

🧵:

Can specialized physical therapy help you to live longer with Parkinson’s? What if physical therapy did more than improve balance and reduce falls? Specialized physical therapy, like that provided through the PDNet model linked to a modest but real reduction in mortality for people w/ Parkinson’s.

Is there a brain circuit target for restoring consciousness after brain injury? New work by @rolstonjohn.bsky.social @braincircuits.bsky.social says yes!

A human brain network linked to restoration of consciousness after deep brain stimulation - Nature Communications In people with severe brain injuries, stimulation restored consciousness by engaging a deep brain circuit for wakefulness—revealing a target that may also guide treatment in stroke and epilepsy.

Just dropped in @natcomms.nature.com: we show that re-engaging a thalamic–ventral tegmental circuit with deep brain stimulation can reignite consciousness in patients with severe brain injury. Work led by Aaron Warren, with @andreashorn.org @foxmdphd.bsky.social @ others! tinyurl.com/4kz8j89b

Honored to highlight our work @braincircuits.bsky.social @massgenbrigham.bsky.social Neuro Research Day. Thank you @shansiddiqi.bsky.social @fredschaper.bsky.social Sheena Baratano and Sam Snider for sharing your experience.

Can dogs really smell Parkinson’s? Spoiler alert: Yes. A new study by Rooney and colleagues in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease confirms what many people have long suspected. Dogs can be trained to detect Parkinson’s just by sniffing oily skin swabs. @parkinsondotorg.bsky.social #parkinson