Dr. Lilla Zollei’s research focuses on the design and development of quantitative analysis tools for neuroscientific problems. She builds and tests computational tools that can be used for both individual and group studies and investigate, through the combination of image information from multiple imaging modalities, how structural and functional organization of the brain influence one another. Through her collaboration with medical experts, she is also keen on ensuring that these tools are used to improve the study and diagnosis of both research and clinical subjects.

Her scientific investigation at present addresses challenges of pediatric MRI imaging and developing computational tools that are capable of exploring the dynamic aspect of perinatal neurodevelopment. As the fundamental principles on which many adult analysis technologies are built – a static central tendency with small alterations – are less appropriate in the case of infants, She is working on alternative approaches to benefit this population. Recently, she has also extended her research agenda to acquiring and analyzing high-resolution postmortem infant brain images. With collaborators from Neurology and Pathology, she and colleagues have proposed to map the structural connectome in developing ex vivo human fetal and infant brains.

Education

PhD in Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Select Publications

1. Ferradal SL, Gagoski B, Jaimes C, Yi F, Carruthers C, Vu C, Litt JS, Larsen R, Sutton B, Grant PE, Zöllei L. System-Specific Patterns of Thalamocortical Connectivity in Early Brain Development as Revealed by Structural and Functional MRI. Cereb Cortex. 2019 Mar 1;29(3):1218-1229.

2. Kolasinski J, Takahashi E, Stevens AA, Benner T, Fischl B, Zöllei L, Grant PE. Radial and tangential neuronal migration pathways in the human fetal brain: anatomically distinct patterns of diffusion MRI coherence. Neuroimage. 2013 Oct 1;79:412-22.

3. Postelnicu G, Zollei L, Fischl B. Combined volumetric and surface registration. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2009 Apr;28(4):508-22.

Highlights

2005: Chateaubriand Fellowship, Embassy of France in the United States of America, Academic Excellence

2015: Science Without Borders, Brazilian Federal Government, Special Visiting Researcher

2018: Scholarly Writing Award, Center for Faculty Development’s Office for Women’s Careers, MGH (Award to facilitate working on a manuscript while caring for dependent)

Website

Laboratory for Computational Neuroimaging