Yaniv Assaf

School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Faculty of Life Sciences and Sagol school of neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Website : https://www.yalab.sites.tau.ac.il/
Twitter : @YanivAssaf

Title

The evolution of the connectome

Biosketch

Professor Yaniv Assaf is a neuroscientist and a biophysicist that has received his graduate degreesin chemistry from The Tel Aviv University, followed by a joint postdoctoral fellowship at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During his postdoc, Assaf investigated the different aspects of neuronal white matter mapping with MRI, including the implementation of white matter mapping techniques for assessment of tissue damage in multiple sclerosis, stroke, and dementia (Alzheimer’s disease). In addition, Professor Assaf has developed novel analysis tools that enhance the accuracy and sensitivity of MRI-based white matter mapping techniques, such as the CHARMED model.

Over the last two decades, Professor Assaf has focused on developing MRI techniques and analysis frameworks that enable indirect measurement of brain structures on the micron scale. The main hypothesis behind Assaf’s research is that the morphology and function of the brain are linked. Professor Assaf’s research is conducted with the aim of enhancing the information extracted from MRI beyond the resolution limitation of the millimeter scale. Under this assumption, Assaf’s research group has focused on extracting micron-scale structures of both white and gray matter in animal brains as well as the human brain. One such research topic involves the characterization of microstructural changes that occur following cognitive training and brain plasticity.