Jake Chernicky
jakechernicky.bsky.social
Jake Chernicky
@jakechernicky.bsky.social
2nd year Neuroscience PhD student in the Gratton Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 🧠🌽
12/12

I’d like to thank my amazing mentors, @caterinagratton.bsky.social & @campbell-thelab.bsky.social, my coauthors at WashU: @allydworetsky.bsky.social, Sarah Grossen, Emma Carr, @ameid.bsky.social and the participants who made this work possible.

Please let us know if you have any feedback! 🎆
July 9, 2025 at 4:44 PM
11/12

🧠 Bottom line:
Precision RSFC is feasible, reliable, and clinically promising in Parkinson’s disease.

This approach could explain the huge variation we see across individuals—and help us treat each person more effectively.
July 9, 2025 at 4:42 PM
10/12

These differences aren’t noise—they’re real, reliable, and potentially clinically meaningful.

🚀 Implications?
✔️ Understand heterogeneity in progression/symptoms
✔️ Map functional changes before symptoms appear
✔️ Improve DBS targeting
✔️ Develop personalized interventions
July 9, 2025 at 4:41 PM
9/12

🗺️ Finding 4: Individual Network Maps
Using seed-based + data-driven techniques (Infomap), we mapped networks in two individuals with PD.

Despite the same diagnosis, locations in primary motor cortex can have very different connectivity
→ One showed SCAN; one showed somatomotor-face network.
July 9, 2025 at 4:41 PM
8/12

🧮 Finding 3: Stability & Distinction
We tested whether RSFC patterns hold up across days.

With 25 mins/session:
🧠 Within-subject similarity: r = 0.70
🧠 Across-subject similarity: r = 0.32

PD participants showed stable, person-specific network profiles.
July 9, 2025 at 4:40 PM
7/12

📈 Finding 2: Reliability
With conventional 5 mins of data, reliability was modest (r = 0.49 in subcortex).
With 40 mins?
🧠 Cortical: r ≈ 0.90
🧠 Subcortical: r ≈ 0.81
🧠 Cerebellar: r ≈ 0.87

That's a massive boost—critical for clinical applications!
July 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
6/12

📊 Finding 1: Feasibility
Even with stringent motion thresholds (fFD < 0.1 mm), PD participants provided comparable data to controls.
✅ 91.5% of data retained
✅ Motion manageable despite PD symptoms
July 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
5/12

We tested this!
🧪 20 people with PD (OFF medications!), 6 healthy controls
🕒 >100 mins of RSFC per person
📍 Multiple (4-5) sessions

All with the goal: can we reliably map functional brain networks in PD?
July 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
4/12

That’s where precision RSFC comes in:
✅ 100+ mins of data
✅ Advanced motion correction
✅ Individualized network mapping

It’s been used in healthy people— but can it work in individuals with PD with tremor, fatigue, or increased head motion? 🤔
July 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
3/12

RSFC has identified brain-behavior relationships in healthy adults (see work by @bttyeo.bsky.social) and those with PD (see @andreashorn.org‬), but most studies fail to reliably detect individual differences— offering little insight into clinical heterogeneity.
July 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
2/12

Parkinson’s disease (PD) isn’t just a movement disorder. It’s a complex condition affecting mood, cognition & more.

Complicating matters further, there is a huge variability in what, when, and how severe symptoms present.

Why symptoms vary so much across individuals with PD is unclear. 🧩
July 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM