Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program

Administrative Assistant: Kim Allen
Phone: 416-480-6100 ext. 65718
Email: kimberly.allen@sunnybrook.ca

Education:

• B.MSc., 2010, medical biophysics, Western University, Canada
• PhD, 2014, biomedical engineering (imaging), Western University, Canada
• Research scholar, 2015, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Canada
• Postdoctoral fellowship, 2017, department of radiology/neuroscience program, Stanford University, U.S.

Appointments and Affiliations:

• Scientist, Physical Sciences, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Assistant professor, department of medical biophysics, University of Toronto

Research Foci:

• Computational neuroscience
• Machine learning/artificial intelligence
• Histopathology & tissue clearing
• Brain networks & connectomics
• Neuromodulation
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Stroke
• Traumatic brain injury

Research Summary:

Dr. Goubran’s research program focuses on developing novel artificial intelligence (AI) and computational tools to probe, predict, and understand circuit alterations, and model brain pathology in neurological disorders. Dr. Goubran’s research interests combine translational and basic science research. He is particularly interested in studying the underlying mechanisms and pathways behind disease progression of neurological and cerebrovascular disorders that involve disruption of neural circuits, including Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury and stroke. This work can lead to the identification of novel translational biomarkers and therapeutic targets, advance our understanding of the pathophysiologic mechanisms of circuit disorders, and improve cognitive and functional outcomes through earlier and more personalized treatments and prevention strategies.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

1. Goubran M, Leuze C, Hsueh B, Aswendt M, Ye L, Tian Q, Cheng MY, Crow A, Steinberg GK, McNab JA, Deisseroth K, Zeineh M. Multimodal image registration and connectivity analysis for integration of connectomic data from microscopy to MRI. Nature Communications. 2019;10(1):5504. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13374-0
2. Ottoy J, Ozzoude M, Zukotynski K, Adamo S, Scott C, Gaudet V, Ramirez J, Swardfager W, Cogo-Moreira H, Lam B, Bhan A, Mojiri P, Kang MS, Rabin J, Kiss A, Strother S, Bocti C, Borrie M, Chertkow H, Richard Frayne R, Hsiung R, Laforce RJ, Noseworthy MD, Prato FS, Sahlas DJ, Smith EE, Kuo PH, Sossi V, Thiel A, Soucy J-P, Tardif JC, Black SE*, Goubran M*. The interplay between vascular burden and cognition: The mediating roles of amyloid and neurodegeneration in severe small vessel disease and Alzheimer’s pathology. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2022. In-press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12750
3. Mojiri Forooshani P, Biparva M, Ntiri EE, Ramirez J, Boone L, Holmes MF, Adamo S, Gao F, Ozzoude M, Scott CJM, Dowlatshahi D, Lawrence-Dewar JM, Kwan D, Lang AE, Marcotte K, Leonard C, Rochon E, Heyn C, Bartha R, Strother S, Tardif JC, Symons S, Masellis M, Swartz RH, Moody A, Black SE, Goubran M. Deep Bayesian networks for uncertainty estimation and adversarial resistance of white matter hyperintensity segmentation. Human Brain Mapping. 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25784
4. Leuze C,* Goubran M,* Barakovic M,* Aswendt M, Tian Q, Hsueh B, Crow A, Weber E, Steinberg G, Zeineh M, Plowey E, Daducci A, Innocenti G, Thiran JP, Deisseroth K, McNab JA. Comparison of diffusion MRI and CLARITY fiber orientation estimates in both gray and white matter regions of human and primate brain. Neuroimage. 2021;228:117692. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117692
5. Goubran M, Ntiri EE, Akhavein H, Holmes M, Nestor S, Ramirez J, Adamo S, Ozzoude M, Scott C, Gao F, Martel A, Swardfager W, Masellis M, Swartz R, MacIntosh B, Black SE. Hippocampal segmentation for brains with extensive atrophy using three‐dimensional convolutional neural networks. Human Brain Mapping. 2020;41(2):291-308. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24811

Related News and Stories:

• New study explores how poor vascular health may accelerate cognitive decline in patients with mixed dementia and small vessel disease (September 1, 2022)
• Who will get Alzheimer’s? Sunnybrook scientists advancing research to answer this question (May 19, 2022)
• Sunnybrook researchers awarded more than $4M in CIHR Spring 2021 Project Grants competition (August 10, 2021)
• From Hours to Seconds per Image – Strides in Brain Research & Clinical Practice (Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative, May 6, 2021)
• Sunnybrook researchers developing new artificial intelligence platform for precision medicine (April 22, 2021)
• Celebrating Sunnybrook's young investigators, innovation and the legacy of an inspired mentor (March 15, 2021) 
• Sunnybrook will be home to Toronto’s first 7-Tesla MRI (March 8, 2021)
• Sunnybrook researchers receive more than $5M from CIHR's Project Grant Program (September 23, 2020)
• Researchers outline the role of a deep brain structure in concussion (Stanford University News, March 12, 2019)
• Brain in motion (NIH Director’s Blog, June 21, 2018)
• Brain beats along with the heart—and scientists have caught it on tape (Newsweek, May 30, 2018)

Related Links:

• AICONS lab
• U of T profile, department of medical biophysics
• Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics
• Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation
• The Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience & Recovery