Amy Kuceyeski

Brain differences between sexes get more pronounced from puberty Study could help reveal why some mental health disorders vary between men and women — but it's not clear whether the differences are due to sex or gender.

There are sex differences in brain connectivity and some of them become more pronounced with age.

A particular spike happens during puberty, for example.

It was fascinating to dig into this for @nature.com 🧪 🧵 1/11

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Brain differences between sexes get more pronounced from puberty Study could help reveal why some mental health disorders vary between men and women — but it's not clear whether the differences are due to sex or gender.

Brain differences between sexes get more pronounced from puberty www.nature.com/articles/d41... 👆🏼one to watch by @amykooz.bsky.social and Co

Brain differences between sexes get more pronounced from puberty Study could help reveal why some mental health disorders vary between men and women — but it's not clear whether the differences are due to sex or gender.

Our preprint on sex differences in brain networks was covered today by Nature: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Our story about The Krakencoder - a new AI tool to analyze brain networks - is out in Weill Cornell's Impact magazine.

Support from NIMH and @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social

Led by Keith Jamison, with @msabuncu.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, Zijin Gu, Qinxin Wang

Full story: tinyurl.com/mryjbzfk

This work was led by the brilliant Louisa Schilling, with assists from @parkersingleton.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, @qingyuz.bsky.social, Keith Jamison, Kilian Pohl, and Marie Hedo.

We would like to also thank our funders, particularly @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social, as well as the NIH & BBRF.

Sex-specific differences in brain activity dynamics of youth with a family history of substance use disorder - Nature Mental Health This study investigates how family history influences brain dynamics related to substance use disorder, utilizing network control theory to reveal sex-specific alterations in transition energies acros...

🧠 Together, these findings highlight early, measurable, and sex-differentiated neural mechanisms of SUD risk. This opens the door to earlier, better, targeted prediction, prevention, and intervention.

Full article: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Summary: news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2025/11...

♂ Males with family history of SUD (FH+) had reduced TE, especially in dorsal and ventral attention networks. We posit FH+ males may find it easier to “step on the gas” in attentional systems, reacting more easily to environmental cues and the rewarding aspects of substance use.

♀ Females with SUD family history (FH+) showed increased TE, particularly in the default mode (the part of the brain active “at rest”). Thus, FH+ females may find it harder to “pump the brakes” in higher-order networks to inhibit impulses related to substance use.

⚡ To determine how Transition Energy (TE, the amount of “effort” the brain needs to move between activity states) differs by sex and SUD family history, we applied network control theory. Using resting-state fMRI data from ~2,000 ABCD youth, we quantified TE at global, network, and regional levels.

💊 🍸 Risk for substance use disorder (SUD) rises in adolescence. Family history and biological sex play major roles in a person's level of SUD risk. New evidence suggests neural markers of SUD may exist before substance use starts - yet how these markers differ across sexes is not understood.

We’re proud to spotlight bright young minds in science! Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 #WIDS Global Datathon on Women’s Brain Health.

🥇 Manh Nguyen, Thu Nguyen (FPT University)
🥈 Baixue Yao, Xiaoyue Zhang (Flagship Labs 84)
🥉 Wei Lyu, Zhida Wang (UC Santa Barbara)

#AI #BrainMapping

Predicting brain function and artificial intelligence The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education and research.On this episode, we’ll learn how artificial intelligence is allowing scientists to understand brain function. A new algori...

Take a listen to my interview about the Krakencoder work on WAMC Northeast Public Radio! www.wamc.org/show/the-bes...

Thanks for giving the talk Louisa! It is your work, after all!

Excited for this!

5) sex differences in ADHD - Natalia Prieto, and, of course, our posters using Network Control Theory to analyze brain dynamics in 6) cocaine use disorder - Hussain Al-Bukhari, 7) mild cognitive impairment - Daran Neumann, and 8) varied sleep quality - Anthony Villegas. Great work CoCo Lab!

We’re proud to spotlight more presentations from our partners at Weill Cornell Medicine Cornell University! Browse the flyers below so you know where to find their work at the OHBM's Annual Meeting.
@ohbmofficial.bsky.social @amykooz.bsky.social @emilyjacobs.bsky.social #ohbm2025 #WomensBrainHealth

Thank you for highlighting our lab’s work at OHBM. We also have posters about 1) predicting adolescent alcohol use - James Kim, 2) modulating brain activity with images - Daniel Chong, 3) brain-behavior mapping using movie watching data-Yunrui Zhang, 4) multimodal imaging post-TBI - Ana Radanovic…

We’re excited to share what our partners at Weill Cornell Medicine Cornell University are presenting at OHBM! Check out the flyers so you know where to find their work.
@ohbmofficial.bsky.social @weillcornell.bsky.social @amykooz.bsky.social @emilyjacobs.bsky.social #ohbm2025 #WomensBrainHealth

Congrats to our datathon winners!

So glad to see this released!

Also see the WCM Newsroom story! news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2025/06...

In collaboration with @msabuncu.bsky.social @cerentozlu.bsky.social Zijin Gu and others!

Krakencoder unifies diverse estimates of brain connectivity - Nature Methods In neuroscience, numerous complementary techniques have been established to estimate human brain connections in vivo. We have created a tool that aligns complementary views of brain connectivity into ...

We also wrote a research briefing about the article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

RELEASE THE KRAKEN(CODER)!
Ever struggle deciding which connectome pipeline to use or want to map between structure and function? Our multi-modal connectome mapping and fusion tool-the Krakencoder-can help! Brilliant Keith Jamison led this work, code available! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our newest paper from a brilliant undergraduate researcher (now a PhD student at McGill!) Nate Roy. We use network control theory to show how dynamics shift after traumatic brain injury! A great collaborative team.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ni...

a woman wearing a wig and a suit says " whatever you do " ALT: a woman wearing a wig and a suit says " whatever you do "

This project was a fun collaboration between a bunch of super cool people, including @richardfbetzel.bsky.social, @ahmadbeyh.bsky.social, Amber Howell, @amykooz.bsky.social,
@bart-larsen.bsky.social, Caio Seguin, @xi-hanzhang.bsky.social, and @avramholmes.bsky.social!

Amazing new work showing dramatic shifts in brain dynamics under the psychedelic DMT. Awesome work @parkersingleton.bsky.social !

Join us for a #BrainAwarenessWeek discussion on sex differences in ADHD!

Incredible discussion on how we can use computational neuroimaging and AI to understand women’s brain health!