Microstructure
& Connectivity Lab

Preprints

Current preprints

Early versions of ongoing work. Findings may change through peer review.

Published workPreprintsBy year

Preprints have not completed peer review. Google Scholar ↗

4 publications

2026
bioRxivPreprint · not peer reviewed

Automated Segmentation of Brainstem and Subcortical White Matter: Mapping the Deep Tegmental Core with BundleParc

Kurt G Schilling et al. · Last author: Bennett Landman

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.

TractographyImage ProcessingLifespan
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Representative brainstem and subcortical pathways used to construct the BundleParc reference labels.
2026
bioRxivPreprint · not peer reviewed

Charting Cervical Spinal Cord Morphometry Across the Lifespan

Kurt G. Schilling et al. · Last author: Bennett A. Landman

This preprint develops cervical spinal cord reference charts using 78,269 scans from 41,042 individuals across 30 datasets. Measurements from C1 to C7 capture size and shape from birth to age 100. The charts reveal regional and sex differences and support age-adjusted comparison of individual cord measurements.

Spinal CordLifespan
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Lifespan trajectories, rates of change, and population variability in cervical spinal cord morphometry.
2026
Research SquarePreprint · not peer reviewed

Sex-related Variability of White-Matter Tracts is Robust to Tractography Methodology

Matthew Amandola, Bastien Herlin, Michael E. Kim, Simon Vandekar, Ivy Uszynski, Bennett Landman, Cyril Poupon, Kurt G. Schilling

This preprint compares sex-related white matter findings from two different tractography pipelines. Microstructural results were highly consistent, while volumetric effects showed more disagreement and depended more on reconstruction sensitivity.

TractographyMicrostructure
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Comparison of whole-brain tractogram and bundle-specific workflows used to test the robustness of sex-related tract differences.
2026
Research SquarePreprint · not peer reviewed

The average does not represent the individual: White matter variability across the brain, across the population, and across the lifespan

Kurt G Schilling, Lilit Dulyan, Eva Guzmán Chacón, Matthew Amandola, Michael Kim, Bennett A Landman, Stephanie J. Fokel

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.

LifespanMicrostructureTractography
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Spatial variability in white matter pathways across the brain and across lifespan cohorts.