The impact of biological sex on the brain language network

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In the last ten years, the National Academy of Sciences, neuroscience community and major funding agencies have endorsed the importance of producing new fundamental research on sex differences in the brain. However, studies on healthy individuals investigating sex differences in the structural and functional characteristics of the brain network sustaining language functions are scarce, based on small samples and provide contradictory results. This represents a major gap in the literature on neuroscience of language. The general goal of the proposed 5-year research program is to better elucidate the role of sex on the structural and functional characteristics of the language network using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The research program will investigate this issue in young and older adults. The research program will use MRI datasets obtained through open-access big data initiatives, such as Human Connectome Project and Oasis. The MRI analysis will include the study of micro- and macro- characteristics of the white matter fiber bundles connecting the core regions of the language network (fiber tracking and tractometry based on diffusion MRI data) and the functional connectivity of the language network (seed-based analysis of resting state functional MRI). Understanding sex differences in the language brain network is essential to better understand how the language system works, develops, and ages. In addition, the results of this program have great potential for knowledge transfer and application by health science researchers working on neurological and psychiatric diseases affecting language functions. In fact, our results will demonstrate the importance of considering sex in the evaluation of patients and in the development of rehabilitation therapies targeting the neuroplasticity of the language brain network. In terms of feasibility, my laboratory has ten-year experience in conducting studies in the field of neuroscience of language using MRI-based neuroimaging approaches in adult populations. We combine a set of expertise in the field of neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience of language and aging necessary to carry on the proposed research program. The neuroimaging analysis of large-scale MRI data proposed in the present program represents a challenge in terms of visualization, computational resources and storage. My laboratory has obtained the infrastructure necessary to face these challenges through Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding. All of these factors not only put me in an ideal position to lead the proposed research program but also offers a multidisciplinary and collaborative research environment for student training.