Researcher

Associate Professor Wei Wen

My Expertise

Neurosciences, Brain Ageing, NeuroImaging / Neuro-radiology, Medical Informatics, Pattern Recognition & Data Mining and Markov models.

Fields of Research (FoR)

Neurosciences, Radiology and Organ Imaging, Biomedical Engineering, Pattern Recognition and Data Mining

Biography

Research Interests:
Computational neuroanatomy is about a comprehensive structural and functional model of the brain. The distribution of structural changes of human brain reflects the underlying pathology. The increasing sophistication of MRI allows neuroanatomical structures to be visualized in vivo in unprecedented detail. Clinical MRI is able to give good soft-tissue contrast and high spatial (<1 mm) resolution. Due to rapid advances in...view more

Research Interests:
Computational neuroanatomy is about a comprehensive structural and functional model of the brain. The distribution of structural changes of human brain reflects the underlying pathology. The increasing sophistication of MRI allows neuroanatomical structures to be visualized in vivo in unprecedented detail. Clinical MRI is able to give good soft-tissue contrast and high spatial (<1 mm) resolution. Due to rapid advances in computing power and algorithm development, we are now well placed to study the extraordinary MRI-visible morphological variability of the human brain through mathematical models sensitive to subtle changes in neuroanatomical shape, complexity and tissue characteristics. One of the key requirements of neuroimaging research is the multi-disciplinary collaborations between neuroscience, engineering and medicine and a host of sub-disciplines. While the research subjects and the clinical needs are provided by medicine, the theoretical underpinnings come from mathematics and statistics, and the methodological approaches from computer science and biomedical engineering, all forming critical components of the enterprise. Our recent work includes mapping and modeling of cerebral white matter hyperintensities, algorithm development for examining the shapes and sizes of brain structures and cortical atrophy. fMRI, pMRI, MRS, and PET are also currently being used as brain imaging modalities in various studies.

Broad Research Areas:
Neurosciences, Brain Ageing, NeuroImaging / Neuro-radiology, Medical Informatics, Pattern Recognition & Data Mining, Markov models

Qualifications:
Ph.D. (Engineering, Sydney University)

Specific Research Keywords:
Computational neuroanatomy, Brain Anatomy, MRI, Mathematical Modelling, Medical Imaging

Meet Our Researcher
Click here to read Associate Professor Wei Wen's ‘Meet Our Researcher’ interview


My Grants

1. Chief Investigator A (CIA): One ARC Discovery project (https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/discovery-program/discovery-projects ); and three NHMRC projects (https://nhmrc.gov.au/funding/find-funding/project-grants ).

2. Chief Investigator (CIx): NHMRC projects.

 


My Qualifications

BE, Ph.D.


My Research Activities

Current Research Themes:

  • Connectome of older brains – both structural and functional descriptions.
  • Longitudinal study of brain in older brains – atrophy, connectivity and functionality.
  • Predicting brain ageing trajectory using imaging, genetics and clinical data.
  • Mapping genetic influences on brain structures and functions with twins design.
  • Functional and structural connectivity and its cognitive relevance.
  • Development of computational algorithms to segment brain lesions – development of a pipeline for automatic lesion detection and computation.
  • Construction of a MRI index for measuring cerebrovascular disease (CVD) burden: a computational approach (together with Dr. Anbu Thalamuthu)

My Research Supervision


Areas of supervision

I welcome research students (ILP, Honours, Masters & Ph.D.).

My research centres on the application of neuroimaging based approaches that seek to identify the clinical, lifestyle, genetic, and environmental determinants for brain ageing, mild cognitive impairment, dementia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. The neuroimaging techniques used in my research have include structural and functional brain imaging, major work has been performed largely with high resolution MRI, using such techniques as volumetric T1-weighted, FLAIR, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRS), susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI), perfusion imaging using exogenous contrast, and both resting state and activation fMRI.

Current Research Themes:

  1. Connectome of older brains – both structural and functional descriptions.
  2. Longitudinal study of brain in older brains – atrophy, connectivity and functionality.
  3. Predicting brain ageing trajectory using imaging, genetics and clinical data.
  4. Mapping genetic influences on brain structures and functions with twins design.
  5. Functional and structural connectivity and its cognitive relevance.
  6. Development of computational algorithms to segment brain lesions – development of a pipeline for automatic lesion detection and computation.
  7. Construction of a MRI index for measuring cerebrovascular disease (CVD) burden: a computational approach (together with Dr. Anbu Thalamuthu)

Currently supervising

Ph.D. and Master's students, ILP and Honours students, and Postdoc fellows.

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Location

Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Level 1, AGSM Building
UNSW Sydney 2052, NSW

Contact

+61 2 9385 0438
+61 2 9385 3645