Specialization
Focus of research
Martijn van den Heuvel is a passionate neuroscientist working in the field of ‘connectomics’. I have a background in neuroimaging and Artificial Intelligence. I aim to bridge disciplines such as psychology, AI, biology and cognitive neuroscience. My research goal is to figure out the ‘principles of human brain wiring’ (lecture) and how they play a central role in the spectrum of brain function and disease disfunction.
I am interested in making connections between neuroscience disciplines: How do macroscale network changes relate to changes at the cellular and genetic level? And how do connectome effects related across disorders and mental conditions?
I am involved in the development of new methods for graph theory analysis in patient-control studies and on mapping the connectome during development I am actively involved in the field of ‘comparative connectomics’, and I study the role of evolutionary adaptations of the brain in relationship to human-unique mental disorders. I am particularly interested in the (very) early developmental stages of brain connectivity and how this relates to the potential development of brain function resilience and vulnerability.
Martijn's work is supported by MQ, NWO (VENI/VIDI), the Dutch Brain Foundation, Amsterdam Neuroscience and for example the ALS foundation (THANK YOU!).
Martijn is actively involved in the debate on open science and open access publication. He is as an Associate Editor for the journals Human Brain Mapping and Network Neuroscience. He is a member of the Editorial board of Neuroimage and the board of the Dutch Society for Neuroscience.
Interested in more? On his lab website www.dutchconnectomelab.nl you can find several videos and other materials on the work of Martijn and his (inspiring) team.