Several researchers from the Amyloid Imaging to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease (AMYPAD) project traveled to Seoul, Korea, to participate in the 2024 Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) Conference from 23-27 June. The conference, renowned for its focus on brain mapping and neuroimaging, provided a nice opportunity for AMYPAD researchers to present their work and engage with the global scientific community.

One of the central highlights was the symposium “Brain imaging genetics in Alzheimer’s Disease: linking genetics and imaging-derived endophenotypes” co-organised by Natalia Vilor-Tejedor, Tavia Evans, Neda Jahanshad and Luigi Lorenzini. The symposium featured four presentations from leading experts in the field, each contributing unique insights into the latest developments in brain imaging genetics and its applications in deciphering the pathogenesis of brain disorders. The aim of the symposium was to equip attendees with a molecular-level understanding of the genetic basis of the brain, offering insights into normal biological functions as well as pathological conditions.
Luigi’s gave a presentation entitled “Biological characterization of multimodal imaging-derived phenotypes through Alzheimer’s disease polygenic pathways”. In his presentation, he demonstrated the use of pathways and functional enrichment analysis to biologically characterise multimodal imaging-derived metrics. This study revealed distinct genetic risk-profiles in association with specific Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiological aspects, unraveling the biological substrates of the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease-associated endophenotypes. We would like to thank the organisers for making this symposium possible and all attendees. It was great to see so much interest in brain imaging genetics.

In addition, the poster session provided a more interactive and in-depth opportunity for researchers to discuss their research findings related to the AMYPAD, EPAD and Euro-PAD initiatives:

• • Leonard Pieperhoff “PET Amyloid Predicts Longitudinal Atrophy in Non-Demented Individuals: Results from the AMYPAD PNHS”
  • Luigi Lorenzini “Alzheimer’s disease Genetic Pathways Impact on Imaging Endophenotypes In Non-Demented Individuals”
  • Alle Meije Wink “MultiPAD: a multimodal network biomarker for predicting Amyloid positivity in healthy elderly”

Save the date for the next OHBM meeting, to be held on June 24-28, 2025 in Brisbane, Australia.