In a new preprint, I review findings of gray matter microstructural aging, as assessed by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) — a technique that has historically been limited to studying aging of white matter microstructure: osf.io/e5u49_v1

Each year, we recognize the achievements of exceptional faculty members in teaching, research, mentorship and service. Here are the honorees for the 2025-26 academic year 🏆⬇️

The U recognizes excellence in teaching, mentorship, service and research - @theU

Read about the achievements of exceptional faculty members in teaching, research, mentorship and service.

attheu.utah.edu

"Neighborhood street connectivity and hippocampus volume in older adults" Impressive study linking hippocampal volume in later life and street connectivity: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

In this new piece that I had the privilege of working on with Kelly Perry, we discuss the implications of the rising population of older adults alongside increasing intensity of environmental exposures. doi.org/10.1002/alz....

From cradle to cortex: An exposome‐ and equity‐centered perspective of neurocognitive aging and dementia risk in the era of climate change

The convergence of climate change, adverse environmental exposures, and rapid population aging necessitates an equity-based paradigm shift in safeguarding brain health across the life course. Older .....

doi.org

Abstract submission open, The 65th Annual Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance (RMCMR) August 2-6, 2026, Snowbird, Utah, featuring EPR & Solid-state NMR Symposia, submission deadline is April 24 for oral abstracts & May 15 for posters rockychem.com/conference/c... #NMRchat #NMR 🧲

Future @ohbmofficial.bsky.social meeting dates just annouced: * 2027 - Toronto, Canada * 2028 - Yokohama, Japan www.ohbm-com.com/blog/futurem...

Next Stops for OHBM: Toronto, Canada in 2027 and Yokohama, Japan in 2028 — OHBM Communications

We are thrilled to announce the locations for our next two upcoming Annual Meetings! The 2027 OHBM Annual Meeting will be held in Toronto, Canada, followed by the 2028 OHBM Annual Meeting in Yokohama,...

ohbm-com.com

Here is the link to our "The Brain Resilience Study protocol," an ongoing project through the @sfuneuro.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Brain Resilience Study protocol: Building a dataset of the biological and sociocultural factors affecting brain health in older adults

Dementia arises from a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. However, previous large-scale studies have largely f…

sciencedirect.com

📚 NEW ISSUE 📚 Articles cover optimized atlases for tau-PET staging, depressive symptoms and MR spectroscopy biomarkers of early AD, and more. www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...

Breathing in polluted air as we age may harm a part of the brain linked to memory and Alzheimer's disease. Scientists found that air pollution can lead to changes in the medial temporal lobe, a key area for memory. Learn more: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41482168/

For 15(!) years I’ve been teaching introductory #MRI to grad students, and struggled to find a textbook for a wide variety of backgrounds. I'm happy to share an online textbook I created, fully open source (including code for generating figures and plots shown): larsonlab.github.io/MRI-educatio...

Newest paper out now in Imaging Neuroscience 🤗

Imaging Neuroscience@imagingneurosci.bsky.social · 7mo ago

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Jenna L. Merenstein, David J. Madden, et al: Higher spatial resolution diffusion-weighted imaging improves characterization of white matter disconnection in Alzheimer’s disease doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

A must-read review. It argues that brain areas are only one of several organizing principles and are not especially central, given their weak correspondence to function. Cytoarchitecture and connectivity are a starting point, not the endpoint. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroscience

Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization - Nature Neuroscience

Parcellation of the cortex into functionally modular brain areas is foundational to neuroscience. Here, Hayden, Heilbronner and Yoo question the central status of brain areas in neuroscience from the ...

nature.com

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Hecheng Jin, Ting Xu, et al: Is Pearson’s correlation coefficient enough for functional connectivity in fMRI? doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

Just finished my last class of the semester🎉Reminded of how much I love teaching this academic writing class for grad students. We focus on improving our writing but also reducing anxiety and becoming a more consistent & productive writer Some of the students favorite writing tips/learnings below:

✨ SHINY NEW PAPER ✨ MRI-derived regional volume and thickness are stronger predictors of cognitive decline, especially for memory, but plasma biomarkers do add predictive value www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458025001137

Integrating plasma, MRI, and cognitive biomarkers for personalized prediction of decline across cognitive domains

Plasma biomarkers are associated with cognitive performance and decline in Alzheimer’s disease, making them promising for early detection. This study …

sciencedirect.com

Very cool new work from the Iglesias group at MGH: A probabilistic histological atlas of the human brain for MRI segmentation (also available at OpenNeuro - openneuro.org/datasets/ds0...) : www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A probabilistic histological atlas of the human brain for MRI segmentation - Nature

NextBrain is an open source, probabilistic atlas of the entire human brain, assembled using artificial-intelligence-enabled registration and segmentation methods to reconstruct the multimodal serial h...

nature.com

No more paylines at the NIH grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Adam Kimbler & Craig E.L. Stark: Advanced diffusion imaging in grey matter reflects individual differences in cognitive ability in older adults doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

Merenstein et al show structural brain connectivity, measured by high-resolution diffusion-weighted MRI, improved predictions of age-related alterations in brain function and cognitive performance, relative to standard spatial resolution buff.ly/0IOgtRX @jmerenstein.bsky.social @nba-eic.bsky.social

Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows

Summer Undergraduate Research Experience | HHMI

The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.

bit.ly

Diffusion MRI Microstructure Markers of Changes in the Human Brain Across the Lifespan Using Constrained Spherical Deconvolution and Fixel-Based Techniques onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Diffusion MRI Microstructure Markers of Changes in the Human Brain Across the Lifespan Using Constrained Spherical Deconvolution and Fixel‐Based Techniques

Diffusion microstructure compartment and subject age across the lifespan. Whole brain tissue has the highest proportion of ICI signal fraction early in the lifespan; as development occurs the ICA sig...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Multivariate environmental exposures are reflected in whole-brain functional connectivity and cognition in youth | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We just published a paper in PNAS, showing microstructural changes to the hippocampus in aging and presymptomatic Alzheimer's disease - in humans, in vivo. We continue to show the value of structural MRI beyond simply measuring large-scale atrophy! Read here: ow.ly/1NvV50XkXnX

Quantitative MRI of the hippocampus reveals microstructural trajectories of aging and Alzheimer’s disease pathology | PNAS

Hippocampal degeneration is a feature of both normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Prior to macroscopic degeneration, microstructural changes...

ow.ly

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences@pnas.org · 9mo ago

The search for early signs of Alzheimer's disease continues: Brain scans reveal microstructural changes in the hippocampus that signal early stages of the disease, including demyelination, increased iron deposition, and changes in water content. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/1NvV50XkXnX

I am so excited to be a faculty mentor for the University of Utah's Summer Program for Undergraduate Research 2026! This is a nationally competitive, 10-week program providing undergraduates with an intensive paid research experience. Apps are due 01/25/2026! utah.infoready4.com#undergraduate

skiftiTools: An R package for reading, writing, analysing, and visualising, tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) derived diffusion MR images | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚨 We are seeking a Digital Presence Coordinator! Open to psych/neuro grad students, postdocs & faculty who are passionate about improving fairness in peer review. Job details: 💻 Managing website, socials, newsletters 🕒 4–8 hrs/month | 💵 $500 honorarium | 📅 1-year term Apply 👉 go.iu.edu/8vxh

One last reminder that I’m recruiting a graduate student through the Cognition & Neural Science area @utah.edu this Fall! The lab uses MRI to study healthy cognitive aging across the adult lifespan and will start assessing factors that moderate cognitive aging (air pollution, cardiovascular health).

Jenna Merenstein@jmerenstein.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Yay, thanks so much for sharing this! 🥳 I am excited to be starting my new lab this Fall! I’ll be reviewing applications this cycle for 1-2 graduate students to start in Fall 2026. More information about applications can be found here: psych.utah.edu/graduate/

⭐ My lab is recruiting a grad student for fall 2026! ⭐ 🧠 If you are interested in semantic learning & memory, and want to use fMRI + computational models to ask these questions, I'll be excited to hear from you. Come join us in Bing! 🔗 sites.google.com/view/spinslab

🆕 New open neuroimaging dataset released! I’m happy to share that our Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database (NNDb3T+) is now publicly available! NNDb3T+ captures rich, multimodal brain activity in a naturalistic setting with 40 participants and over 160 hours of scanning!

Sharing our new paper in Brain Communications ➡️ doi.org/10.1093/brai... We show that structural connectivity, as measured by high-resolution diffusion-weighted MRI, improved the ability to predict age-related alterations in brain function and cognition, relative to standard spatial resolution.