SAN DIEGO — Like fingerprints, human brains are unique. Scientists are working to map the variability of individual brains and to inform personalized therapeutics for treatment-resistant disease. These findings will be presented at Neuroscience 2025, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
Most brain imaging studies rely on differences averaged across groups of people. While this reveals large-scale principles of brain organization, it may hide important individual differences in brain structure and function. Precision brain imaging offers an alternative approach. Scientists prioritize mapping brain structure, function, and connectivity patterns in single individuals. Examining these personalized brain maps could lead to new insights into the organization of the human brain and increase understanding of how to treat psychiatric disorders. Personalized maps could also customize the “dose” of new brain-based treatments to individual patients’ needs.
Today’s new findings show that:
“This precision imaging approach is valuable not only in terms of pure discovery, showing us previously unknown brain networks,” says Nico Dosenbach, MD, PhD , a physician-scientist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and moderator of the panel. “Precision mapping and stimulation tuning could also contribute to personalized, patient-specific treatments for brain disorders.”
This research was supported by national funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health and private funding organizations. For complete access to Neuroscience 2025 in-person and online, request media credentials .
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
2–3 p.m. PST
San Diego Convention Center, Room 15A, and online for registered media
Precision Press Conference Summary
Investigating the role of the somato-cognitive action network in stimulant treatment response in individuals with ADHD
Gracie Grimsrud, grims090@umn.edu , Abstract PSTR150.14
Precision fMRI reveals highly interdigitated network patches with conserved motifs in the individual lateral prefrontal cortex
Zach Ladwig, ladwig.zach@gmail.com , Abstract PSTR041.01
Interdigitated regions of human prefrontal cortex reflect distinct medial temporal lobe connections and cognitive specializations
Rodrigo Braga, Rbraga@northwestern.edu , Abstract PSTR041.02
Identifying novel functional brain networks in individuals using precision functional mapping
Evan Gordon, egordon@wustl.edu , Abstract PSTR189.04
Multi-parameter optimization of VCVS deep brain stimulation using objective cognitive control
Alik Widge, awidge@umn.edu , Abstract PSTR094.21
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The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an organization of nearly 30,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and the nervous system.