Feature-specific BrainAGE profiles in middle and late adulthood: Investigating the relationships between individual body, brain, and cognitive aging

• Applicant: Dr. Katja Franke
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 284374581

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

In summary, the results of this project contribute to the rapidly expanding field of imagingbased brain age prediction. Furthermore, they have been instrumental in facilitating the advancement and refinement of imaging-based brain age prediction models. The development of the BrainAGE Designer has the potential to enable significant advancements in the field of brain-aging scientific research. It is plausible that this contribution may have facilitated the translation of novel insights into tangible applications, thereby facilitating the integration of this novel biomarker into clinical practice. The focus of my future research will be on the development of new tools that utilize machine learning and modern AI methods to predict future brain aging and cognitive deterioration. These predictions will be based on individual baseline regional BrainAGE profiles, general health markers, and cognitive measurements on a single-subject level in both healthy individuals and those with common brain disorders.

Publications

• Obesity as a Risk Factor for Accelerated Brain Ageing in First-Episode Psychosis—A Longitudinal Study. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 47(6), 1772-1781.
  McWhinney, Sean; Kolenic, Marian; Franke, Katja; Fialova, Marketa; Knytl, Pavel; Matejka, Martin; Spaniel, Filip & Hajek, Tomas
  
• Mind the gap: Performance metric evaluation in brain‐age prediction. Human Brain Mapping, 43(10), 3113-3129.
  de Lange, Ann‐Marie G.; Anatürk, Melis; Rokicki, Jaroslav; Han, Laura K. M.; Franke, Katja; Alnæs, Dag; Ebmeier, Klaus P.; Draganski, Bogdan; Kaufmann, Tobias; Westlye, Lars T.; Hahn, Tim & Cole, James H.
  
• 119. Obesity and Brain Structure Alterations are Independent Contributors to Cognitive Performance in First Episode Psychosis. Biological Psychiatry, 95(10), S147-S148.
  McWhinney, Sean; Kolenic, Marian; Franke, Katja; Fialova, Marketa; Knytl, Pavel; Selitser, Maya; Matejka, Martin; Spaniel, Filip & Hajek, Tomas
  
• BrainAGE : Revisited and reframed machine learning workflow. Human Brain Mapping, 45(3).
  Kalc, Polona; Dahnke, Robert; Hoffstaedter, Felix & Gaser, Christian