Biography:Christian Gaser
Christian Gaser | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jena, Germany |
| Alma mater | Chemnitz University of Technology |
| Known for | computational anatomy toolbox, voxel-based morphometry, BrainAGE |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroimaging, Computational neuroscience |
| Institutions | University of Jena, Harvard Medical School |
Christian Gaser is a German computational neuroscientist and Professor of Computational Neuroscience and Neuroimaging at the University of Jena. He is known for developing the computational anatomy toolbox (CAT12), a software package for structural MRI analysis within the SPM framework.[1]
Career and research
Gaser received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Magdeburg. He subsequently held post-doctoral and visiting fellowships at Harvard Medical School (Boston), UCLA (Los Angeles), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York), the Australian National University (Canberra), the University of Auckland, and the University of Oxford.[2]
His research focuses on computational neuroanatomy, neuroplasticity, aging, and imaging biomarkers for neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gaser introduced the BrainAGE framework for estimating biological brain age from MRI using machine-learning methods.[3] [4] [5] [6] His group also develops methods for cortical surface analysis, gyrification metrics, and longitudinal modeling of structural brain plasticity.
Selected honors and awards
- Listed in Stanford's 'World's Top 2% Scientists' (2017-2025):[7] Awarded by Stanford University / Elsevier to the top 2% of researchers worldwide.
- Recipient of the Hood Fellowship[8][9]
Selected publications
- "Brain structures differ between musicians and non-musicians". Journal of Neuroscience 23 (27): 9240–9245. 2003. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-27-09240.2003. PMID 14534258.
- "Neuroplasticity: changes in grey matter induced by training". Nature 427 (6972): 311–312. 2004. doi:10.1038/427311a. PMID 14737157. Bibcode: 2004Natur.427..311D.
- "Ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia related to volume reduction of the thalamus, striatum, and superior temporal cortex". American Journal of Psychiatry 161 (1): 154–156. 2004. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.161.1.154. PMID 14702264.
- "Use of neuroanatomical pattern classification to identify subjects in at-risk mental states of psychosis and predict disease transition". Archives of General Psychiatry 66 (7): 700–712. 2009. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.62. PMID 19581561.
- "Brain structure and phenotypic profile of superagers compared with age-matched older adults: a longitudinal analysis from the Vallecas Project". Lancet Healthy Longevity 4 (8): e374–e385. 2023. doi:10.1016/S2666-7568(23)00079-X. PMID 37454673.
- "Hormonal milieu influences whole-brain structural dynamics across the menstrual cycle using dense sampling in multiple individuals". Nature Neuroscience 28 (12): 2588–2600. 2025-09-26. doi:10.1038/s41593-025-02066-2. PMID 41006668.
External links
References
- ↑ "CAT: a computational anatomy toolbox for the analysis of structural MRI data". GigaScience 13. Aug 2024. doi:10.1093/gigascience/giae049. PMID 39102518.
- ↑ "People". https://neuro-jena.github.io/people.html.
- ↑ "Estimating the age of healthy subjects from T1-weighted MRI scans using kernel methods: exploring the influence of various parameters". NeuroImage 50 (3): 883–892. 2010. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.01.005. PMID 20070949.
- ↑ "BrainAGE: Revisited and reframed machine learning workflow". Human Brain Mapping 45 (3). 2024. doi:10.1002/hbm.26632. PMID 38106819.
- ↑ "A perspective on brain-age estimation and its clinical promise". Nature Computational Science 4 (10): 744–751. 2024. doi:10.1038/s43588-024-00639-w.
- ↑ "Ten years of BrainAGE as a neuroimaging biomarker of brain aging: What insights have we gained?". Frontiers in Neurology 10 (10). 2019. doi:10.3389/fneur.2019.00789. PMID 31481759.
- ↑ Ioannidis, John P. A. (2025-09-19) (in en). August 2025 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators". 8. doi:10.17632/btchxktzyw.8. https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/8.
- ↑ "Hood Fellowships". https://www.uoafoundation.org.nz/hood.
- ↑ "Als Fellow in Neuseeland" (in de-DE). https://www.uniklinikum-jena.de/Uniklinikum+Jena/Aktuelles/Archiv/PM_Archiv+2019/Als+Fellow+in+Neuseeland.html.
Further reading
- "Music lessons may improve brain function". Nature News. 2010. https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.362.
- "Brain structure changes after training, study shows". ScienceDaily. 2012-03-14. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120314170647.htm.
- "Lessons in Music for the Healthy Aging Brain". 2020. https://www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/the-arts-and-the-brain/2020/lessons-in-music-for-the-healthy-aging-brain-081220.
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