An international team of researchers, led by the Computational Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Biobizkaia Health Research Institute (Prof. Paolo Bonifazi, Dr. Ibai Diez, and Prof. Jesús Cortés), in collaboration with Ikerbasque (Prof. F. García-Moreno and M. D’Amato) and the Basque Foundation for Science, has published a pioneering study in the high-impact scientific journal Nature Communications. The study provides a new framework for understanding how the human brain is organized at a large scale.
The work presents an innovative model that links embryonic brain development with brain function in adulthood, showing that brain regions that form earlier during development tend to become the most highly connected and influential hubs of the brain. These regions play a key role in information integration and, when affected, can lead to widespread functional impairments.
By combining human connectomics, developmental neurobiology, and large-scale gene expression data, the study demonstrates that the organization of brain networks is closely linked to specific genetic programs active during early stages of life. This approach helps explain why certain brain regions are particularly vulnerable to dysfunction.
From a clinical perspective, the model has been validated across several genetically driven neurological disorders, including epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The findings show that these conditions tend to preferentially affect brain regions that occupy central positions within brain networks, helping to explain the severity and spread of their effects.
This framework opens new possibilities for precision neurology, as it allows researchers and clinicians to anticipate how a genetic alteration or a focal lesion may impact global brain function and facilitates the identification of potential molecular and pharmacological targets.
The study also involved researchers from the University of Bari (Italy) and the University of Cantabria (Spain), further reinforcing its international and multidisciplinary character in the field of connectomics and network neuroscience.
Overall, this research strengthens the role of Biobizkaia and Ikerbasque as leading institutions in network neuroscience and human connectomics, and highlights the robustness of the Basque scientific ecosystem in cutting-edge biomedical research.
The full Nature Communications article is available (in English):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67785-3
.png)
