Junhong Yu, PhD | Nanyang Technological University; Goh Wen Bin Wilson, PhD; Andrea Maier, MD, PhD, FRACP
Competition Sponsor: Ministry of Health and National Research Foundation of Singapore
Awardee Year: 2025
Our brains can ‘age’ more rapidly in relation to disease and ill health, making them appear older than those of healthy individuals of the same age. Such ‘older’ brains are often associated with impairments in memory and other mental abilities. We propose a personalized method to “rewire” the brain, making it appear younger and thereby reversing brain aging. Unlike typical treatment approaches, designed in a one-size-fits-all manner to improve brain health, that shows limited success, we calibrate our approach according to our participant’s neural characteristics. In the proposed study, 62 seniors, who have a normal level of cognitive functioning, will be recruited to take part in our research. We will study their brain activity as they watch a movie while being scanned in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner. This information will be used to guide participants to recreate ‘youthful’ thoughts with the aid of personalized sets of AI-generated images. We believe that these youthful thoughts will rewire the brain and ultimately reverse brain aging. This study represents the first attempt to reverse brain aging on a personalized level, potentially leading to new strategies for enhancing brain health tailored to each individual’s unique neural responses.