Research
Transdiagnostic imaging-based markers of psychopathology
Most neuropsychiatric disorders are of neurodevelopmental origin, and their study and conceptualization continue to present with significant challenges, among them the lack of biologically-based indicators for distinguishing often co-occurring psychiatric disorders. In my line of work, I used a multimodal transdiagnostic approach that combines cutting-edge neuroimaging, clinical, and behavioral assessments. More specifically, I seek to extract latent dimensions that relate psychopathology to structural and functional brain alterations using magnetic resonance imaging and data-driven machine learning tools.
Relevant publications:
- Somatosensory-motor dysconnectivity spans multiple transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology. Kebets V, Holmes AJ, Orban C, Tang S, Li J, Sun N, Kong R, Poldrack RA, Yeo BTT. Biological Psychiatry (2019), 86, 779-91
- Fronto-limbic neural variability as a transdiagnostic correlate of emotion dysregulation. Kebets V, Favre P, Houenou J, Polosan M, Perroud N, Aubry JM, Van De Ville D, Piguet C. Translational Psychiatry (2021), 11, 545
- Multilevel neural gradients reflect transdiagnostic effects of major psychiatric conditions on cortical morphology. Park B, Kebets V, Larivière S, Hettwer MD, Paquola C, van Rooij D, Buitelaar J, Franke B, Hoogman M, Schmaal L, Veltman DJ, van den Heuvel O, Stein DJ, Andreassen OA, Ching CRK, Turner J, van Erp TGM, Evans AC, Dagher A, Thomopoulos SI, Thompson PM, Valk SL, Kirschner M, Bernhardt BC. Communications Biology (2022), 5(1), 1-14
Development of imaging-based disease biomarkers
Neuroimaging data is becoming increasingly high dimensional and multi-faceted, suggesting that technique may contain clinically useful information for diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment monitoring. In previous studies, I utilized supervised machine learning (e.g., support vector machine and random forest classifier, kernel ridge regression) on structural and functional MRI data to predict to predict cognition, personality and mental health (Chen*, Tam*, et al., 2022), autism spectrum disorder (Benkarim et al., 2021), functional neurological disorder (Kebets*, Wegrzyk*, et al., 2018), and individual diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (Kebets et al., 2015; Kebets et al., 2018).
Relevant publications:
- Shared and unique brain network features predict cognitive, personality, and mental health scores in the ABCD study. Chen J*, Tam A*, Kebets V, Orban C, Ooi LQR, Asplund CA, Marek S, Dosenbach N, Eickhoff S, Bzdok D, Holmes AJ, Yeo BTT. Nature Communications (2022), 13, 2217
- Population heterogeneity in clinical cohorts affects the predictive accuracy of brain imaging. Benkarim O, Paquola C, Park B, Kebets V, Hong SJ, Vos de Wael R, Zhang S, Yeo BTT, Eickenberg M, Ge T, Poline JB, Bernhardt BC, Bzdok D. PLOS Biology (2022), 20(4), e3001627
- Identifying motor functional neurological disorder using resting-state functional connectivity. Kebets V*, Wegrzyk J*, Richiardi J, Galli S, Van De Ville D, Aybek S. Neuroimage: Clinical (2018), 17, 163-8
- Multivariate and predictive modelling of neural variability in mild cognitive impairment. Kebets V, Van Assche M, Richiardi J, Goldstein R, Meuli R, Kober T, Assal F, Van De Ville D. Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in Neuroimaging (2018)
- Predicting pure amnestic mild cognitive impairment conversion to Alzheimer’s disease using joint modeling of imaging and clinical data. Kebets V, Richiardi J, Van Assche M, Goldstein R, van der Meulen M, Vuilleumier P, Van De Ville D, Assal F. Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in Neuroimaging (2015)
Identify brain-behavior relationships
I have collaborated on several projects that leveraged partial least squares analysis - an unsupervised machine learning technique - to identify various brain-behavior relationships :
- modulatory effects of social imitation on behavioral and neural states, as measured by EEG microstate activity (Tomescu et al., 2022)
- structural and functional connectivity changes underlying neuroplasticity responses in children born without a corpus callosum, and how their relate to neurobehavioral outcomes (Siffredi et al., 2021; Shi*, Freitas* et al., 2021)
- spatio-temporal patterns of in-scanner head motion and their relationship with anthropometric and cognitive factors (Bolton al., 2020 Neuroimage)
Relevant publications:
- Spontaneous thought and microstate activity modulation by social imitation. Tomescu MI, Papasteri CC, Sofonea A, Boldasu R, Kebets V, Pistol CAD, Poalelungi C, Benescu V, Podina IR, Nedelcea CI, Berceanu AI, Carcea A. Neuroimage (2022), 118878
- Structural neuroplastic responses preserve functional connectivity and neurobehavioral outcomes through strengthening
of intra-hemispheric pathways in children born without a corpus callosum. Siffredi V, Preti MG, Kebets V, Obertino S, Leventer RJ, McIllroy A, Wood AG, Anderson V, Spencer-Smith MM, Van De Ville D. Cerebral Cortex (2021), 31(2), 1227-39
- Intra- and inter-hemispheric structural connectome in agenesis of the corpus callosum. Shi M*, Freitas LGA*, Spencer-Smith MM, Kebets V, Anderson V, McIlroy A, Wood AG, Leventer RJ, Van De Ville D, Siffredi V. Neuroimage: Clinical (2021), 31, 102709
- Agito ergo sum: Correlates of spatio-temporal motion characteristics during fMRI. Bolton TAW, Kebets V, Glerean E, Zöller D, Li J, Yeo BTT, Caballero-Gaudes C, Van De Ville D. Neuroimage (2020), 209, 116433
* These authors have contributed equally.