Just one look at a person’s face is enough for us to estimate their age fairly accurately. But how old is the brain, really? In this lecture, we’ll show how a method we developed—which uses MRI scans and machine learning—can be used to determine brain age. We’ll also explain what it means when the brain appears younger or older than the person actually is. Using clear examples, we’ll show that lifestyle and health leave visible traces in the brain just as they do on the face. The talk explains how such models work and why they are becoming increasingly important in research—for example, in the early detection of age-related changes.
We then draw a connection to a life stage marked by profound hormonal changes: menopause. In doing so, we introduce the EU-funded doctoral network MenoBrain, coordinated by Jena University Hospital. The goal is to better understand how this life stage affects memory, emotional processing, and cognitive health, and which factors may potentially protect the brain.
In the presentation “How Old Is Your Brain?”, we explain how the biological age of the brain can be determined using an MRI, what role lifestyle plays in this, and why menopause in particular is an exciting topic for brain research.
In addition, at our information booth, we’ll provide you with more details about the MenoBrain project as well as the three research projects being conducted at the UKJ.
