# MAPPING THE HUMAN CONNECTOME DURING TYPICAL AGING

> **NIH NIH U01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $549,976

## Abstract

The major technological and analytical advances in human brain imaging achieved as part of the Human
Connectome Projects (HCP) enable examination of structural and functional brain connectivity at
unprecedented levels of spatial and temporal resolution. This information is proving invaluable for enhancing
our understanding of normative variation in young adult brain connectivity. It is now timely to use the tools and
analytical approaches developed by the HCP to understand how structural and functional wiring of the brain
changes during the aging process. Using state-of-the art HCP imaging approaches will allow investigators to
push our currently limited understanding of normative brain aging to new levels. We propose an effort involving
a consortium of five sites (Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles, University
of Minnesota, Washington University in St. Louis, and Oxford University), with extensive complementary
expertise in human brain imaging and aging and including many investigators associated with the original adult
and pilot lifespan HCP efforts. This synergistic integration of advances from the MGH and WU-MINN-OXFORD
HCPs with cutting-edge expertise in aging provides an unprecedented opportunity to advance our
understanding of the normative changes in human brain connectivity with aging. Aim 1 will be to optimize
existing HCP Lifespan Pilot project protocols to respect practical constraints in studying adults over a wide age
range, including the very old (80+ years). Aim 2 will be to collect high quality neuroimaging, behavioral, and
other datasets on 1200 individuals in the age range of 36 – 100+ years, using matched protocols across sites.
This will enable robust cross-sectional analyses of age-related changes in network properties including metrics
of connectivity, network integrity, response properties during tasks, and behavior. Aim 3 will be to collect and
analyze longitudinal data on a subset of 300 individuals in three understudied and scientifically interesting
groups: ages 36-44 (when late maturational and early aging processes may co-occur); ages 45-59
(perimenopausal, when rapid hormonal changes can affect cognition and the brain); and ages 80 – 100+ (the
`very old', whose brains may reflect a `healthy survivor' state). The information gained relating to these
important periods will enhance our understanding of how important phenomena such as hormonal changes
affect the brain and will provide insights into factors that enable cognitively intact function into advanced aging.
Aim 4 will capitalize on our success in sharing data in the Human Connectome Project (HCP), and will use
these established tools, platforms, and procedures to make this data publicly available through the
Connectome Coordination Facility.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10160408
- **Project number:** 3U01AG052564-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID H SALAT
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $549,976
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-08-19 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10160408

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10160408, MAPPING THE HUMAN CONNECTOME DURING TYPICAL AGING (3U01AG052564-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10160408. Licensed CC0.

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