Research Interests
The identification of neural circuit abnormalities associated with psychiatric symptoms is key for developing neural markers for early risk detection and ultimately for developing rationally-guided therapeutics. Traditional categorical approaches for psychiatric diagnoses, such as the DSM-5 criteria, often fail to align with individual clinical profiles and lack consideration of the neural mechanisms or circuits underlying specific symptoms, complicating treatment planning. I use precision functional and anatomical neuroimaging measurements in humans (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], Electroencephalography [EEG], and Positron Emission Tomography [PET]) to identify neural circuit abnormalities underlying symptoms of mental illness. My research program integrates longitudinal assessments and time-series analyses to map neural signal measures to symptoms that manifest over various timescales. Using machine learning (ML) techniques, such as dimensionality reduction, multivariate linear models and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven models, I conduct multimodal neuroimaging studies combined with longitudinal phenotyping, computational modelling and neuroinformatics to establish reproducible brain-behavior associations in psychiatric illnesses. I aim to develop methods to identify neural circuit abnormalities underlying psychiatric and cognitive symptoms, develop multimodal neural markers of psychopathology, and develop symptom-specific pharmacological treatment strategies.
1. Innovations in Functional Neuroimaging Analysis
2. Development of Neural Markers of Epilepsy, Sleep and Cognition
3. Metabolic and Physiological Signatures of Human Brain Networks
4. Reproducible Mental Health Research with Open Science and Artificial Intelligence
5. Developing Neural Markers of Psychiatric Symptoms and Personalized Treatments
Innovations in Functional Neuroimaging Analysis
Understanding how brain functions are mapped within the brain is a key question in neuroscience. I develop analysis methods and software tools to study the organizations and functions of the human brain.
- Kangjoo Lee, Sungho Tak, and Jong Chul Ye, A data-driven sparse GLM for fMRI analysis using sparse dictionary learning with MDL criterion, IEEE Trans. Med. Imag., vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 1076–1089, May 2011
- Kangjoo Lee, Hui Ming Khoo, Constance Fourcade, Jean Gotman and Christophe Grova, Automatic classification and removal of structured physiological noise for resting state functional connectivity MRI analysis, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, vol. 58, pp. 97–107, January 2019
- Kangjoo Lee, Jean-Marc Lina, Jean Gotman and Christophe Grova, SPARK: Sparsity-based analysis of reliable k-hubness and overlapping network structure in brain functional connectivity, Neuroimage, vol. 134, pp. 434–449, April 2016. Codes available on github(matlab version), CBRAIN platform (also available on github(cbrain version)).
- Young-Beom Lee, Jeonghyeon Lee, Sungho Tak, Kangjoo Lee, Duk L. Na, Sangwon Seo, Yong Jeong, Jong Chul Ye, and The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Sparse SPM: Group Sparse-dictionary learning in SPM framework for resting-state functional connectivity MRI analysis, Neuroimage, vol. 125, pp. 1032–1045, January 2016
Development of Neural Markers of Epilepsy, Sleep and Cognition
I use multimodal neuroimaging (e.g. EEG/fMRI) to identify the neurobiological mechnisms and develop neural markers of cognitive impairments and symptoms of brain disorders such as epilepsy and sleep deprivation.
- Kangjoo Lee, Hui Ming Khoo, Jean-Marc Lina, François Dubeau, Jean Gotman and Christophe Grova, Disruption, emergence and lateralization of brain network hubs in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, Neuroimage: Clinical, vol. 20, pp. 71–84, June 2018
- Kangjoo Lee*, Yimeng Wang*, Nathan E. Cross, Aude Jegou, Fatemeh Razavipour, Florence B. Pomares, Aurore A. Perrault, Alex Nguyen, Ümit Aydin, Makoto Uji, Chifaou Abdallah, Alan Anticevic, Birgit Frauscher, Habib Benali, Thien Thanh Dang-Vu, and Christophe Grova, NREM sleep brain networks modulate cognitive recovery from sleep deprivation, bioRxiv (2024) (*: co-first)
- Christian Dansereau, Pierre Bellec, Kangjoo Lee, Francesca Pittau, Jean Gotman and Christophe Grova (2014). Detection of abnormal resting-state networks in individual patients suffering from focal epilepsy: An initial step toward individual connectivity assessment, Front. Neurotic. 8:419. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00419
- Nathan E. Cross,Florence B. Pomares, Alex Nguyen, Aurore A. Perrault, Aude Jegou, Makoto Uji, Kangjoo Lee, Fatemeh Razavipour, Obaï Bin Ka’b Ali, Umit Aydin, Habib Benali, Christophe Grova ,Thien Thanh Dang-Vu, An altered balance of integrated and segregated brain activity is a marker of cognitive deficits following sleep deprivation, PLOS Biology (2021)
Metabolic and Physiological Signatures of Human Brain Networks
I integrate multimodal neuroimaging with physiological recordings to understand physiological brain state variations and brain metabolism associated with the brain's functional organizations.
- Kangjoo Lee, Corey Horien, David O’Connor, Bronwen Garand-Sheridan, Fuyuze Tokoglu, Dustin Scheinost, Evelyn M.R. Lake, R. Todd Constable, Arousal impacts distributed hubs modulating the integration of brain functional connectivity, Neuroimage (2022), Data: OpenNeuro. Codes: GitHub.
- Sungho Tak, Jaeduck Jang, Kangjoo Lee and Jong Chul Ye, Quantification of CMRO2 without hypercapnia using simultaneous near-infrared spectroscopy and fMRI measurements, Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 55, pp. 3249–3269, May 2010
- Seyedeh Fatemeh Razavipour, Obaï Bin Ka'b Ali, Kangjoo Lee, Stephan Grimault, Stephane Blinder, Jean-Paul Soucy, Habib Benali, Claudine J. Gauthier, Christophe Grova, “Multiresolution Metabolic Profile of Functional Hubness in the Resting Human Brain”, Resubmission in Preparation (2024) (*: co-first)
Reproducible Mental Health Research with Open Science and Artificial Intelligence
I am committed to improve the reproducibility of brain research by leveraging open and inclusive scientific approaches and integrating these principles into advanced statistical/machine learning frameworks for neuroimaging.
- Kangjoo Lee*, Valentina Borghesani*, Fernanda de Moraes, Alyssa Pozzobon, Rosanna Olsen, Julia W. Y. Kam, Athina Tzovara, AmanPreet Badhwar, Brain Mappers of Tomorrow: an international multilingual initiative for neuroscience dissemination, Aperture Neuro, vol. 4, September 23, 2024 (*: co-first)
- Julia W. Y. Kam*, AmanPreet Badhwar*, Valentina Borghesani, Kangjoo Lee, Stephanie Noble, Pradeep Reddy Raamana, Tilak Ratnanather, Davynn G.H. Tan, Lena K.L. Oestreich, Hyang Woon Lee, Laura Marzetti, Hajer Nakua, Gina Rippon, Rosanna Olsen, Alyssa Pozzobon, Lucina Q. Uddin, Julio Alejandro Yanes, Athina Tzovara. Creating diverse and inclusive scientific practices for research datasets and dissemination, Imaging Neuroscience (2024) (*: co-first)
- Corey Horien, Stephanie Noble, Abigail S. Greene, Kangjoo Lee, Daniel S Barron, Siyuan Gao, David O’Connor, Mehraveh Salehi, Javid Dadashkarimi, Xilin Shen, Evelyn MR Lake, R. Todd Constable, Dustin Scheinost, A hitchhiker’s guide to working with large, open-source neuroimaging datasets, Nature Human Behaviour (2020)
- Xiaoliang Luo, Akilles Rechardt, Guangzhi Sun, Kevin K. Nejad, Felipe Yáñez, Bati Yilmaz, Kangjoo Lee, Alexandra O. Cohen, Valentina Borghesani, Anton Pashkov, Daniele Marinazzo, Jonathan Nicholas, Alessandro Salatiello, Ilia Sucholutsky, Pasquale Minervini, Sepehr Razavi, Roberta Rocca, Elkhan Yusifov, Tereza Okalova, Nianlong Gu, Martin Ferianc, Mikail Khona, Kaustubh R. Patil, Pui-Shee Lee, Rui Mata, Nicholas E. Myers, Jennifer K Bizley, Sebastian Musslick, Isil Poyraz Bilgin, Guiomar Niso, Justin M. Ales, Michael Gaebler, N Apurva Ratan Murty, Leyla Loued-Khenissi, Anna Behler, Chloe M. Hall, Jessica Dafflon, Sherry Dongqi Bao, Bradley C. Love, Large language models surpass human experts in predicting neuroscience results, Nat Hum Behav. 2024 Nov 27.
Developing Neural Markers of Psychiatric Symptoms and Personalized Treatments
I develop methods to identify neural circuit abnormalities underlying psychiatric and cognitive symptoms, develop multimodal neural markers of psychopathology, and develop symptom-specific pharmacological treatment strategies, focusing on psychosis spectrum disorders and depression.
- Kangjoo Lee, Jie Lisa Ji, Markus Helmer, John D. Murray, John H. Krystal, Alan Anticevic, A framework for advancing mechanistic neuro-behavioral biomarkers in psychiatry, Under Review (2025)
- Kangjoo Lee, Jie Lisa Ji, Clara Fonteneau, Lucie Berkovitch, Masih Rahmati, Lining Pan, Grega Repovš, John H. Krystal, John D. Murray, and Alan Anticevic, Human brain state dynamics are highly reproducible and associated with neural and behavioral features, PLOS Biology 22(9): e3002808 (2024)
- Masih Rahmati, Flora Moujaes, Nina Purg Suljič, Jie Lisa Ji, Lucie Berkovitch, Kangjoo Lee, Clara Fonteneau, Charles H. Schleifer, Brendan Adkinson, Aleksandar Savič, Nicole Santamauro, Zailyn Tamayo, Caroline Diehl, Antonija Kolobaric, Morgan Flynn, Terry Camarro, Clayton E. Curtis, Grega Repovš, Sarah K. Fineberg, Peter Morgan, Katrin H. Preller, John H. Krystal, John D. Murray, Youngsun T. Cho*, Alan Anticevic*, Ketamine Alters Tuning of Neural and Behavioral Spatial Working Memory Precision, bioRxiv (2025) (*:co-senior)
- Lucie Berkovitch, Kangjoo Lee, Jie Lisa Ji, Markus Helmer, Masih Rahmati, Jure Demšar, Aleksij Kraljič, Andraž Matkovič, Zailyn Tamayo, John D. Murray, Grega Repovš, John H. Krystal, William J. Martin, Clara Fonteneau, and Alan Anticevic, A common symptom geometry of mood improvement under sertraline and placebo associated with distinct neural patterns, medRxiv (2023), Under Revision