Ilaria Carannante: Multiscale Computational Modelling of the Brain: stepping toward Personalized Medicine in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract: 

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease and currently there is no cure available. It primarily impacts a brain region called the Basal Ganglia, a group of evolutionary conserved subcortical nuclei. The striatum is the main input structure and plays a central role in integrating cortical and thalamic signals and it is profoundly affected by PD. During my PhD at KTH, I developed a computational model of the striatal microcircuit in both healthy and Parkinsonian conditions. By combining electrophysiological simulations with topological analyses, I investigated how PD alters the structure and dynamics of striatal networks. In my current postdoctoral research at CNRS in Paris, I am expanding this work to a larger scale, integrating additional nuclei of the Basal Ganglia and employing mean-field models. This multiscale approach aims to bridge local circuit dynamics with global brain activity, ultimately contributing to the development of personalized models for understanding and treating Parkinson’s disease.