Vanderbilt University Medical Center
We develop and test MRI methods for measuring tissue organization and tracing white matter pathways in the brain and spinal cord.
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Nature · 2026-05-13
White matter growth charts built from 35,120 brain scans provide reference trajectories from birth to 100 years. The study measures tissue properties and pathway shape across 72 tracts, enabling age- and sex-adjusted comparisons. Public models, processing tools, and shareable derived data support independent use of the charts.
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Research
What can an MRI measurement tell us about tissue? Which pathways can tractography recover reliably? How does white matter change across the lifespan? These questions guide our work in acquisition, modeling, and validation.
Research areas →Publications
Reference charts describe cervical spinal cord size and shape from birth to age 100. The published models use 24,251 healthy or cognitively normal controls from 33 datasets. Cross-sectional area peaks around the mid-30s before declining.
Summary & resources →
Two tractography pipelines yielded similar estimates of sex differences in white matter microstructure. Differences were more frequent for normalized tract volume.
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Same-session brain and spinal cord imaging compares standard diffusion tensor measurements with Standard Model Imaging in 34 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and 36 controls. Neurite density estimates show sensitivity to pathology in both regions, while the usefulness of other measurements depends on the anatomical setting.
Summary & resources →Work in progress
This preprint extends BundleParc to segment and divide 97 brainstem and subcortical white matter pathways along their trajectories. Trained from anatomically curated Human Connectome Project tractography, the method operates on native-space fiber orientation distributions. External datasets test its performance across development, aging, disease cohorts, and acquisition differences.
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This preprint examines individual differences across 64 white matter pathways using more than 2,800 diffusion scans spanning ages 0–100. Variability follows spatial and lifespan patterns rather than behaving as random noise. Associations with behavior motivate treating anatomical diversity as an informative feature of brain organization.
Summary & resources →Reference charts for tissue properties and pathway shape across the lifespan, with models, processing tools, and shareable derived data.
Susceptibility distortion correction when reverse phase-encoded scans are unavailable.
Integrated diffusion MRI preprocessing and quality assurance.
· Vanderbilt University News
Coverage of the Nature study mapping growth and aging across 72 white matter pathways, with reference charts spanning birth to age 100.
· Nature Research Briefings
Nature’s research briefing introduces the white matter lifespan charts and their use as reference measurements.
Tractography
Examine the arcuate, corticospinal, and callosal pathways. Compare their trajectories, isolate a bundle, or follow its central course.
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