Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt Health Map Brain Lifespan Wiring with AI

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have published the first growth charts for white matter in the human brain, tracking how its structure changes from birth to age 100. The study, published in Nature in May 2026, was made possible by an AI-enabled computing platform that processed one of the largest neuroimaging datasets.

Michael Kim, the study's lead author said, "Defining these pathway-specific trajectories and milestones allows researchers to explore interesting neurobiological questions. They also help us investigate how white matter abnormalities present similarly or differently across diseases."

White matter consists of bundled nerve fibers that act as the brain's primary communication network. The researchers mapped 72 distinct pathways and tracked how they develop and decline across a full human lifespan.

The work draws on nearly two decades of Vanderbilt research and an AI platform developed at the university's lab for immersive AI translation, known as VALIANT. That infrastructure made it possible to standardize and process imaging data at a scale that was previously out of reach.